– Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/NHLI via Getty Images
Scottrade Center would play host to the top two teams in the Central Division as the St Louis Blues welcomed the Nashville Predators to the Gateway City. Nashville is wrapping up a six game road trip, and is coming off a 3-2 victory in Dallas two nights ago. St Louis is currently riding a seven game winning streak, and looking to extend that tonight. The Blues would call on the service of Brian Elliott between the pipes, who hasn’t been defeated since being shutout at Anaheim on October 19th. St Louis won all five meetings against the Preds last season, and 10 of their last 11 overall.
Patrik Berglund interfered with Calle Jarnkrok at the 7:15 mark in the first period, giving the Preds the one-man advantage. The Blues penalty kill unit started out on a good note allowing only two shots while being down a man.
St Louis would strike first as the red hot Vladimir Tarasenko split the defense and wristed the puck from the slot. Pekka Rinne made the save but a crashing Jori Lehtera snagged the rebound and beat Rinne to give the Blues an early 1-0 lead.
With time winding down in the first, Nashville would get another power play opportunity as Maxim LaPierre was called for interference as he crashed into Pekka Rinne.
The first frame would end with the Blues on top 1-0. The Preds would start the second period with 1:25 remaining on the power play. St Louis led the period with 12 shots to Nashville’s 11, but Nashville had several good looks. This is a much improved Nashville team from last season.
The second period started with the Blues killing off their second power play in as many chances. The Predators offense came out of the break with guns-a-blazing. Nashville peppered Brian Elliott with ten shots in the first seven minutes of the period. Their eleventh shot would be the one they were searching for. Roman Josi dished a nice cross-ice pass to find Filip Forsberg in the slot, who beat Elliott for his sixth goal of the season, tying things at one.
With 2:11 on the clock in the second period, the Blues got their first power play chance of the night, thanks to a holding call against Mattias Ekholm. The one man advantage wouldn’t lead to any success as the Preds defense was too much to handle.
The second period ended in a 1-1 tie. Both goalies made some eye-popping saves in the middle frame. But, Pekka Rinne reminded us how good he can be when healthy. He robbed Tarasenko of would-be goal that he had no business getting to. With the St Louis defense playing the way they’ve played lately and with Pekka Rinne looking like he did a few years ago, it seemed like both teams would have a tough time finding that go-ahead goal.
With 6:28 to go in regulation, Filip Forsberg would get his second point of the game. Forsberg dropped a pass behind him to former Penguins forward James Neal, who ripped a wrist shot from the boards along the left side to beat Brian Elliott and give the Predators a 2-1 lead.
James Neal’s goal would be the one that decided this one. The Predators offense was heavy all night, blasting 35 shots on net. Pekka Rinne denied 28 of the 29 shots the Blues put on him. From these eyes, Nashville doesn’t look like that team you can’t wait to play to pick up the easy win under head coach Peter Laviolette.
The loss ends the streak for St Louis and bumps them out of first place in the Central Division. St Louis will have a chance for revenge as they host these same Predators Thursday night at Scottrade. The Blues have two days off before welcoming the Buffalo Sabres to town this Tuesday. That game can be seen nationally on NBCSN or heard on KMOX 1120.
