Tommy Novak collected a goal and three assists to lead the Nashville Predators to a 6-1 victory over the visiting St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Luke Evangelista had a goal and two assists, and Cody Glass, Colton Sissons, Yakov Trenin and Philip Tomasino also scored for the Predators.
Nashville (38-29-8, 84 points) resides three points behind the Winnipeg Jets (42-31-3, 87 points) for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Predators have seven games left, one more than the Jets, who have an 11-point lead over St. Louis (35-35-6, 76 points).
Juuse Saros made 21 saves for the Predators, who converted two power-play goals and once while shorthanded.
Defenseman Calle Rosen scored and Thomas Greiss made 29 stops for the Blues, who lost for just the third time in their past nine games (6-2-1).
Leading 2-0 after the first period, the Predators extended their advantage by getting a short-handed goal. Sissons scooped up an errant pass in Nashville's zone and skated down the ice, capping the breakaway by wristing a shot off the post and into the net at the 7:36 mark.
Evangelista slid a shot between Greiss' pads from close range for a 4-0 advantage at the 13:27 mark off assists from Kiefer Sherwood and Novak.
In the third period, Rosen scored off an assist from Alexey Toropchenko at the 8:36 mark to avoid the shutout for the Blues.
Trenin made it 5-1 with an unassisted goal at the 11:49 mark before Tomasino capped the scoring off assists from defenseman Tyson Barrie and Novak with 1:54 left.
The Predators took a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game. Evangelista corralled the puck along the board and slid a pass to a cutting Novak, who backhanded a shot into the top of the goal at the 4:46 mark.
Nashville doubled its lead on the power play less than four minutes later. After getting a pass from Evangelista, Novak wristed a shot that Glass deflected past Greiss at the 7:20 mark.
--Field Level Media
St. Louis | Nashville | |
Calle Rosen 1 | Points | Tommy Novak 4 |
Calle Rosen 1 | Goals | Tommy Novak 1 |
Alexey Toropchenko 1 | Assists | Tommy Novak 3 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Cody Glass 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | Colton Sissons 1 |
Thomas Greiss .829 | Save Percentage | Juuse Saros .955 |
Thomas Greiss 29 | Saves | Juuse Saros 21 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
St. Louis | 22 | 1 | 0-4 | 2-4 | 10 | 12 |
Nashville | 35 | 6 | 2-4 | 4-4 | 10 | 36 |