Predators beat Blues in playoff matchup
NASHVILLE — The Nashville Predators finally had a chance to show how they would react to their first loss this postseason.
Returning home, they put their deep scoring on display and bounced back with a big victory.
Cody McLeod scored the game-winning goal early in the second period, and the Predators beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 Sunday to grab a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series.
“It shows a lot of character coming off a loss last game,” Predators goalie Pekka Rinne said. “We knew that coming in it’s a huge game. Responded really well. It’s a good feeling, obviously, but you already start thinking about the next one and trying to keep this momentum going.”
Defensemen Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi also scored, and Colton Sissons added two assists for the Predators who outshot St. Louis 34-23 while improving to 6-1 this postseason.
Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said it was good to be home before a standing-room only crowd coming off a 3-2 loss in Game 2 Friday night.
“It was awesome today,” Laviolette said. “That’s a credit to our fans and the energy that comes into this building. You guys see that and get to experience it just like we do, so that’s a real positive for us. Nobody likes losing, probably on any team, and you look for a response, and I thought the response was good today.”
Alexander Steen scored for the Blues, who lost for the first time on the road this postseason. St. Louis goalie Jake Allen kept his team in the game before being pulled by coach Mike Yeo for the extra attacker with more than four minutes remaining.
“We had a decent start, but once they started to get to their game, we didn’t seem to have an answer for it,” Yeo said. “They upped their game, they took their game to another level and we didn’t match it.”
Rinne finished with 22 saves, including a flurry of stops to preserve the win.
The Predators never got the man advantage in Game 2, but they got their first power play nearly midway through the first period Sunday. It didn’t produce a goal, but just after it ended Ellis gave Nashville a 1-0 lead with his slap shot from near the blue line at 10:34 off assists from Filip Forsberg and P.K. Subban.
Ellis now has a point in six straight playoff games, extending his franchise record for a defenseman and also leading the Predators.
“It’s the consecutive penalties that are getting us into trouble,” Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo said.
McLeod gave Nashville a 2-0 lead with his first goal of the postseason just 2:29 into the second period with a backhander past Allen. McLeod became the 13th Nashville player to score this postseason, a goal that even got Laviolette to smile on the bench.
St. Louis, which took eight of the first 12 shots, went without a shot in the second period until Steen tipped in a shot by Pietrangelo at 12:59 to pull the Blues within 2-1.
Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo had a shot go off the post within the first five minutes of the third. Josi scored on a slap shot with 5:49 left to prompt yet another standing ovation by the standing-room only crowd.