The Nashville Predators traveled to St. Louis to take on the Blues in another important divisional matchup. The Blues are 7-3 in their last ten games and entered the afternoon's game off of a wild 6-5 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.
The Predators headed to St. Louis after winning three straight including two against division teams Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche. On Wednesday night the Preds defeated the Calgary Flames by a score of 4-2.
Andrew Brunette went with the same lineup from Wednesday night with the exception of starting Kevin Lankinen in net and resting Juuse Saros.
Nashville got the first four shots on goal in the game, but the Blues quickly answered back with six offensive chances of their own. The Predators got on the board first as Filip Forsberg cleaned up a loose puck sitting behind Blues goalie Joel Hofer at 6:57. Just :28 seconds later Yakov Trenin scored another greasy goal off of a three on one jamming the puck past Hofer to give Nashville a quick 2-0 lead.
Ryan McDonagh was whistled for the first penalty of the game at 7:50 for tripping. Even with one of their best penalty killers in the box, the Predators were able to kill off the two minutes. A late hit on Roman Josi by Blues' captain Brayden Schenn was quickly addressed by Jeremy Lauzon as soon as he hopped over the boards. Schenn and Lauzon dropped the gloves and headed to the penalty box for five minute fighting calls at 13:25.
The line of Kiefer Sherwood, Juuso Pärssinen, and Luke Evangelista capitalized on quick puck movement in the offensive zone, and Evangelista scored Nashville's third goal of the period at 13:53.
The Blues began to push back in the last five minutes of the period. Marco Sandella threw the puck in the slot to Pavel Buchnevich who scored at 16:32 to get the Blues on the board. The period ended with St. Louis leading 18-14 in shots on goal, but Nashville leading 3-1 on the scoreboard.
The Predators were able to come out in the second period and get back to their game. A rush chance resulted in Spencer Stastney scoring with a shot from the slot at 2:45, his first career NHL goal.
The Blues' Nikita Alexandrov headed to the box for an interference call. Just :54 seconds later Pavel Buchnevich joined him in the box giving Nashville a 5 on 3. Filip Forsberg found Ryan O'Reilly open on the back side and O'Reilly scored at 4:46 to give Nashville a 5-1 lead.
A minute and half later Luke Evangelista scored his second goal of the game by following his own shot and scoring on a juicy rebound in the slot. After that goal Jordan Binnington came in for Hofer. Nashville had another power play chance as Buchnevich went back to the penalty box at 8:06. The Predators couldn't capitalize on the man advantage, and after the two minute penalty ended, Nashville found themselves trapped in the defensive zone as the Blues circled. Buchnevich found a wide open Rob Thomas who scored glove side high on Lankinen at 9:43.
The Thomas goal gave St. Louis momentum, and the next few minutes Nashville worked to get back to their game. With under three minutes to go, Cole Smith won a puck battle against the boards and found Filip Forsberg in the lower circle who scored to make it a 7-2 Nashville lead going into the second intermission.
Forsberg headed to the penalty box early in the third period, and Kevin Lankinen had to earn his paycheck as the Blues swarmed the net. The Predators were able to kill off the penalty, but at 4:16 a trip by Tyson Barrie gave the Blues a power play. Jake Neighbours deflected Corey Krug's shot past Lankinen to make it a 7-3 game.
Kiefer Sherwood scored Nashville's eighth goal of the game burying another juicy rebound past Binnington at 12:45. The Blues had another power play chance late in third period but couldn't convert, and the Predators got the win on the road by a score of 8-3.
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