Robert Thomas scored his second goal of the game with 2:38 remaining in regulation to break a tie and the visiting St. Louis Blues bounced back after blowing an early three-goal lead to cool off the Nashville Predators 7-4 on Saturday.
Jordan Kyrou's third assist of the day was a brilliant pass that found Thomas, who easily beat Nashville's Juuse Saros (28 saves) to snap a 4-4 tie. David Perron, who scored twice and has seven goals in six games, and Justin Faulk added empty-netters as the Blues won back-to-back games following an 0-3-1 slide.
Thomas, who also had two assists, has scored twice in back-to-back contests.
Matt Duchene recorded his fourth two-goal game in the last five and added an assist, while Ryan Johansen scored once and had two assists for the Predators, who were roughed up after outscoring their opponents 14-2 to win the previous three games.
Nashville recorded the game's first five shots on goal, but St. Louis struck first. On the power play, Perron ripped the puck past Saros from the near circle at 6:35. Less than a minute later and off a Nashville turnover, the puck found St. Louis' Brandon Saad, who skated through traffic to beat Saros. Saad picked up an assist when Thomas made it 3-0 via another power-play score with 2:18 left in the period.
The Predators got on the board with 1:26 remaining. Following a Blues' turnover, Duchene converted off some tic-tac-toe passing with Johansen and Filip Forsberg.
Nashville made it a one-goal game with a power-play goal 3:44 into the second period. Duchene placed the puck perfectly for Johansen to drill a one-timer past St. Louis' Ville Husso (31 saves). The Predators tied it at 3-3 through Forsberg, off a three-on-three pursuit with 11:46 to go in the middle frame.
St. Louis, though, stopped the bleeding by taking the lead with 8:22 left in the second. Torey Krug drove the puck off a pair of Nashville players, before trickling by Saros.
But just 39 seconds later the game was tied again. Duchene used some nifty stickwork to beat Husso for his career-high 31st goal.
--Field Level Media
St. Louis | Nashville | |
Robert Thomas 4 | Points | Matt Duchene 3 |
Robert Thomas 2 | Goals | Matt Duchene 2 |
Jordan Kyrou 3 | Assists | Ryan Johansen 2 |
Robert Thomas 1 | Power Play Goals | Ryan Johansen 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Ville Husso .886 | Save Percentage | Juuse Saros .848 |
Ville Husso 31 | Saves | Juuse Saros 28 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
St. Louis | 35 | 7 | 2-3 | 2-3 | 6 | 32 |
Nashville | 35 | 4 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 6 | 30 |