NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Robert Thomas scored his second goal with 2:38 left as the St. Louis Blues beat the Nashville Predators 7-4 Saturday for their second straight win.
Thomas also had an assist for the Blues, who were second in the Central Division and padded their lead over Nashville to five points with the Predators in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
David Perron also had two goals, including an empty-netter with 1:57 left, and Justin Faulk added a second empty-net goal 24 seconds later.
Brandon Saad and Torey Krug each had a goal and an assist as St. Louis improved to 2-0-1 in the season series with Nashville. Jordan Kyrou had three assists.
Goalie Ville Husso made several great saves in the third against Nashville, including on Ryan Johansen’s shot right in front and Mikael Granlund's wrister toward an open net that he stopped with his right skate. He made 31 saves for the win.
Matt Duchene
Nashville wore its “Smashville” uniforms from its Stadium Series game two weeks ago and had a 7-1 edge in shots when the Blues struck quickly. Perron scored his 15th of the season at 6:35 on the power play, and Saad got his 18th on a wrister 48 seconds later for a 2-0 lead.
That led to competing “Let's go” chants with the Blues having a heavy contingent of fans in the stands for the morning puck drop.
The Blues made it 3-0 when
Johansen pulled Nashville within 3-2 at 3:44 of the second with a slap shot from the high slot. Johansen went to the box for interference 30 seconds into a man advantage for the Preds, and Forsberg tied it at 3 with a wrister from the slot at 8:14.
Krug put St. Louis up 4-3 at 11:38 of the second, only to see Duchene tie it again, at 12:17, with a wrister past Husso.
BIG POINTS
Perron now has four points, including three goals, in three straight games. Krug got his 400th career point on the assist on Perron's goal. Vladimir Tarasenko had two assists as well, giving him his sixth 50-point season. Thomas notched his 100th career assist. Duchene now has eight goals in his last five games.
JUUSE SAROS
The Predators goalie had allowed only two goals on 71 shots faced in his last three starts, going 3-0-0 in that span. He gave up three goals within the first 18 minutes of this game, making 10 saves.
UP NEXT
The Blues return home to host Winnipeg on Sunday night.
Nashville visits Minnesota on Sunday night for the Predators' fourth game in six days.
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