NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Blues let a 3-0 lead slip away, regained it at 4-3, let that one get away, before Robert Thomas scored his fourth goal in the past two games as the Blues won a Central Division showdown, 7-4, over the Predators on Saturday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena.
The Blues entered the game second in the Central Division with a three-point lead on fourth-place Nashville and were one point up on idle Minnesota.
Thomas scored his 12th goal of the season, extending his career high, off a pass from Jordan Kyrou with 2:38 to go. Kyrou carried the puck toward the net, then as the defense went to him, found Thomas on the opposite side for a quick shot into the net.
The Blues then padded their lead with empty-net goals by David Perron and Justin Faulk to win their second in a row. They now head home to face Winnipeg on Sunday.
Ville Husso won the battle of top Finnish goalies, and kept the Blues alive under heavy pressure in the third period. Juuse Saros was in goal for Nashville in a game that was televised in Finland.
The Blues had to weather an early flurry by the Predators, who had five shots on goal in the first 75 seconds. But Husso handled them and the Blues’ penalty kill, which had allowed goals on four of its previous five chances, didn’t allow a shot the first time they were pressed into service.
The Blues’ power play, which had been troubles of its own, not scoring a goal in the past five games, put them ahead on a shot by Perron, giving him six goals in six games. Forty-eight seconds later Brandon Saad scored from the slot to make it 2-0 and with 2:18 to go, the Blues got another power-play goal, this time by Thomas, his career-high 11th.
With 1:26 left in the first, the Blues lost track of Matt Duchene and he buried a shot into an open net to make it 3-1.
A hooking penalty on Ivan Barbashev game Nashville an early power play in the second and Ryan Johansen scored from the high slot to make it 3-2, and with the teams at four per side midway through the period, Nashville got even. Just after Torey Krug couldn’t quite get a pass to Thomas for an easy goal, Nashville came down and scored, when the puck deflected to Filip Forsberg after a pass was broken up and he beat Husso. It was the first time this season the Blues had let a three-goal lead get away.
The Blues reclaimed the lead with 8:22 to go on a shot by Krug that broke the stick of Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm on its way in. The lead lasted 39 seconds when Husso bought Duchene’s fake and left the side of the net open for a goal that made it 4-4.
