Nashville Predators Fall In St. Louis Via The Shootout

The Nashville Predators (31-10-6) fell to the St. Louis Blues (30-13-4) in a hard fought, hard nosed Central Division rivalry matchup via the shootout with the final score being 5-4.

The first few minutes of this game were a bit slow, holding some lackluster back and forth hockey; the complete opposite of was yet to come.

he Predators would however be the first on the board. Mike Fisher recorded his 500th career point with just under eight minutes remaining in the first period with Nashville on the power play. The puck deflected off of Fisher after Roman Josi sent a shot from the point on net. Shea Weber was given the secondary assists on Fisher’s tenth of the year.

This would be the only tally of the opening period despite Weber committing two minor penalties and allowing the leagues number one power play team unit plenty of chances to knot things up.

The Blues out shot the Predators 12-9 in the first 20 minutes of play.

Then, perhaps the wildest period of the Predators season got underway.

Filip Forsberg started the period off right for the Predators netting his 17th goal of the season 5:36 into the middle frame to give the Predators a two goal advantage.

The Blues came back, and they came back strong.

Jaden Schwartz put the Blues on the scoreboard with 11:38 remaining in the second. Carter Hutton made a fantastic save on a streaking Vladimir Tarasenko but gave up a juicy rebound that Schwartz put into the back of the net.

Twenty-six seconds later St. Louis struck again. T.J. Oshie, who was flying around the ice the entire game, tied things up with a wrist-shot just as the Predators killed off a penalty.

Things got even uglier for Nashville just two and a half minutes later when Steve Ott sent a wrister past Hutton to give the Blues their first lead of the night and do nothing but build confidence for the streaking Blues squad.

That confidence however would be weakened a bit just moments later when Fisher tallied his second of the night, and this time with the Predators on the penalty kill. Fisher’s earlier goal was indeed a wacky one while this one was a beauty as he put on a beautiful move to beat Brian Elliott with 4:28 left in the period.

The back and forth middle frame wasn’t done there as Ryan Reaves re-took the lead for the Blues with an impressive slapshot from the far right side for his fourth goal of the season.

Nashville killed off all three penalties they faced in the middle period and fell behind in the shot count 25-18 as the two teams headed into the third period.

The final period held an abundance of back and forth hockey. Each team had their chances to either tie and pull away and neither team capitalized until late in the period.

With 2:38 left in regulation James Neal got the puck from Fisher and sent a wicked wrist shot past Elliott to tie things up. Neal’s 16th goal of the season was the lone goal of the period and sent the game into overtime.

The overtime period saw the Blues have a few very quality chances to end the game but they couldn’t capitalize, and neither could the Predators and the game headed into the shootout.

In the shootout the Blues scored on their first attempt courtesy of Oshie. The following three shooters went scoreless and Josi was called upon by the Predators to keep things alive, and he did with a beautiful move. Kevin Shattenkirk was called upon next by St. Louis and the defenseman put on a fantastic move to beat Hutton. The next shooter the Predators called on was Neal and he was stopped as Elliott sealed the deal for the Blues.

The Predators are in action again tomorrow night as they take on the Colorado Avalanche in Denver at 8:00 p.m. CST.