Predators snap winless skid behind balanced scoring

The Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday, snapping a three-game winless streak on home ice behind five different goal scorers. The result also closed Nashville's homestand at 1-1-1. Read more: Predators beat Blues 5-2

Nashville trailed early after Philip Broberg scored for St. Louis 6:21 into the first period, with Mason McTavish drawing the assist, his sixth straight game with a point, a span with four goals and four assists. The Predators answered twice before the first intermission and pulled away with two more goals in the third.

Jonathan Marchessault tied it at 8:40 of the first period on a penalty shot, awarded after Blues goalie Jordan Binnington was penalized for throwing his stick. It was Marchessault's third successful penalty shot in five regular-season attempts.

Filip Forsberg made it 2-1 at 12:22 on a wraparound, his first goal of the season. He has 27 goals and 27 assists in 47 career games against St. Louis.

Nashville answers in the second

Adam Edstrom restored Nashville's two-goal cushion with a shorthanded goal 7:05 into the second period, tipping in a feed from Roman Josi, his second shorthanded goal in his last three games. Jimmy Snuggerud answered on the power play to make it 3-2, and Nashville carried a one-goal lead into the third.

St. Louis held the edge in power-play chances, 5-1, but Nashville's penalty kill gave up only Snuggerud's goal and produced one of its own. The Blues' special-teams advantage never turned into a lead. St. Louis also outshot Nashville 11-7 in the second period and still left trailing, unable to solve Saros again after Snuggerud's goal.

Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich returned to the lineup after missing Thursday's loss at Minnesota for the birth of his child.

Third period pulls away

Ryan O'Reilly buried his own rebound 2:50 into the third period to make it 4-2. Jack Drury scored his first goal as a Predator at 8:14, assisted by Josi, who finished the night with two assists. Steven Stamkos also picked up two helpers, giving Nashville three players with multi-assist nights.

"The third period we got to our game, started playing more simple with the puck," said Filip Forsberg, Predators forward.

Juuse Saros made 24 saves on 26 shots for the win. Jordan Binnington took the loss for St. Louis with 19 saves on 24 shots. Nashville outshot St. Louis 8-6 in the third period, though St. Louis won the overall shot count, 26-24. Nashville won 54.2 percent of its faceoffs and outhit St. Louis 26-18.

The win pushed Nashville to 3-2-3. St. Louis fell to 3-4-1, losing the final two games of a three-game road trip. "It's a big win for us," Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said. Nashville visits Boston on Thursday. St. Louis hosts Winnipeg on Tuesday.