Brayden Schenn, Alex Pietrangelo and Ryan O'Reilly each collected one goal and one assist as the host St. Louis Blues snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Nashville Predators 6-2 Friday night.
Blues goalie Jake Allen made 26 saves as St. Louis claimed the second half of a home-and-home series with the top team in the NHL.
After some early fireworks -- Pat Maroon and Austin Watson fought at the drop of the puck and then Schenn and Ryan Hartman dropped the gloves before the two-minute mark -- the Blues took control of the game.
Ivan Barbashev opened the scoring at 9:26 by burying a give-and-go with Jordan Schmaltz during an odd-man rush that Barbashev created by stealing the puck in his own zone.
O'Reilly doubled the lead at 13:09 when he finished a top-shelf shot from the slot while the Blues were buzzing around the Nashville zone.
Nick Bonino scored on Nashville's first shot on goal, at 14:12 of the opening frame, when he pounced on a rebound during a power play, but it didn't breathe enough life into his team.
Schenn restored St. Louis' two-goal lead on a breakaway 57 seconds later, by stealing the puck in the neutral zone, waltzing into the offensive zone and zipping a blocker-side offering.
The Blues extended their lead in the second period with goals by Zach Sanford and Robby Fabbri. Sanford was sprung by O'Reilly for a partial break and ripped home a shot from the top of the circle on the ensuing rush.
Fabbri was on the spot for a loose puck at the doorstep, and made no mistake with the open net to make it 5-1, which chased Predators' goalie Juuse Saros, the victim of five goals on 15 shots.
Pietrangelo extended the St. Louis lead at 14:50 of the third period, and then Hartman added a late goal for the Predators to round out the scoring.
Pekka Rinne stopped 18 of 19 shots for Nashville, which had its three-game winning streak ended.
--Field Level Media
Nashville | St. Louis | |
Nick Bonino 1 | Points | Ryan O'Reilly 2 |
Nick Bonino 1 | Goals | Ryan O'Reilly 1 |
Mattias Ekholm 1 | Assists | Robert Thomas 2 |
Nick Bonino 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Pekka Rinne .947 | Save Percentage | Jake Allen .929 |
Pekka Rinne 18 | Saves | Jake Allen 26 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Nashville | 28 | 2 | 1-3 | 3-3 | 18 | 32 |
St. Louis | 34 | 6 | 0-3 | 2-3 | 18 | 28 |