Predators top Blues for fourth straight win

The Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena. The win stretched Nashville's winning streak to four games, the longest run of its season. Read more: Predators top Blues for fourth straight win

Saturday morning's preview of the Predators Blues matchup pointed to a healthy Nashville team catching a short-staffed Blues club. That edge held up from puck drop to the final horn.

St. Louis struck first.

Jimmy Snuggerud one-timed a power-play goal past Juuse Saros at 13:07 of the first period. Philip Broberg and Robert Thomas drew the assists, and the Blues led 1-0.

Nashville answered on its own power play three minutes later. Steven Stamkos then tied it at 16:07, set up by Mavrik Bourque and Roman Josi. The goal was also Stamkos's 248th career power-play goal. It moved him past Luc Robitaille into fifth place alone on the NHL's all-time list.

Ross Colton then put the Predators ahead for good, scoring 9:02 into the second period on a wrist shot past Hofer. Jack Drury and Josi also set up the goal.

Nick Perbix added an empty-net goal with 1:29 left in the third. Stamkos and Filip Forsberg assisted, and the final was 3-1.

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Saros steady in net

Saros made 25 saves on 26 shots for the win, a .962 save percentage.

Hofer, meanwhile, stopped 26 of 28 shots before he was pulled for an extra attacker. Nashville also outshot the Blues 29-26, pressure that finally paid off in the third period.

"When you have it, you just try to keep that snowball rolling," Stamkos, Nashville's leading goal scorer, said of the streak.

The win pushed Nashville to 8-4-5 and 21 points, seven points behind Central Division-leading Minnesota. It also stretched the Predators Blues season series lead to 2-0, after an earlier 5-2 win at Bridgestone Arena on Oct. 18.

The result, in fact, ended a run in which Nashville had not allowed a power-play goal in seven straight games. Snuggerud's goal snapped that streak in the first period.

St. Louis, however, fell to 7-8-2, its third straight loss. "We need to be more committed to who we are, and we need to work at a harder rate more consistently," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said afterward.

Nashville visits the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, looking to stretch the streak to five. St. Louis hosts Detroit the same night, trying to snap its skid instead.