Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - Dan Ellis made 43 saves to post his second consecutive shutout and sixth of his career, as the Nashville Predators blanked the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2-0, at Nationwide Arena.

Ellis, who stopped 36 shots in Tuesday's 3-0 home win against Columbus, extended his shutout streak to 170:18.

Jan Hlavac and Radek Bonk scored for the Predators, who have won their last three contests.

"They (Blue Jackets) came hard, I give (them) a lot of credit," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "Columbus had a lot of focus and a lot of energy. They were heavy on the puck all night. They were stronger on the forecheck, but I didn't think it was a very physical game at all."

Nashville has 86 points and pulled into a tie with Vancouver -- which lost to Minnesota on Friday -- for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Fredrik Norrena allowed two goals on 25 shots for the Blue Jackets, who have dropped four of their last five games.

"We couldn't beat Ellis," Columbus captain Rick Nash said. "We had a lot of shots. We just didn't have much traffic."

After a scoreless first period, Nashville found the back of the net twice in the middle stanza to grab a 2-0 lead.

The Predators lit the lamp 4:26 into the frame as Hlavac notched his 12th goal of the season. Ryan Suter gathered a pass from J.P. Dumont just inside the blue line, stepped around Nikolai Zherdev and fired a low wrister that Hlavac redirected between the legs of Norrena.

Bonk rifled a shot from the top of the left circle high over the glove of Norrena 1:38 later to make it 2-0.

Columbus registered 14 shots in the third period, but couldn't solve Ellis for the second time in four nights.