Stamkos was the headliner coming in, and he showed up. The goal was his 10th of the season, and it came on the power play again. The preview had his winner in Denver as career power-play goal 247, which tied Luc Robitaille for 5th all-time. If that count holds, this one moves him past Robitaille and into 5th on his own. He's scoring the way a team's best player should during a 4-game streak, and Nashville keeps scoring on its power play.
After the 1st, Nashville took over. The Preds scored once in the 2nd and once in the 3rd, and St. Louis didn't score again. The preview worried that the Blues would be playing tired: 4th straight game on the road, a noon start after a Thursday night game in New Jersey, and a blue line without Torey Krug and Tyler Tucker. The game followed that script. The Blues got their goal in the opening 20 minutes and then managed nothing for the last 40.
The line score shows how it went. Nashville scored 1 in every period, which is how a home team wins when it isn't overpowering anybody. St. Louis had come back with 3 goals in the 3rd period in New Jersey. This time there was no comeback. My one box-score search didn't name the Nashville goal scorers in the 2nd and 3rd periods or tell me who started in goal for either team, so the takeaway is the overall picture: 1 goal against all afternoon after the 1st, and nothing after it.
That makes 4 straight wins for Nashville, and this is the first one in a while that the preview's skeptics can't wave off. The win over Tampa Bay took a shootout and the one in Denver took overtime. This one was decided in regulation by 2 goals, against a division rival. The Preds are 8-4-5. The Blues have lost 3 straight, all on this trip: 1-3 at the Rangers, 4-5 in overtime in New Jersey, and now this. They're 7-8-2 and finally headed home.
The Blues' defensive depth problem isn't going away. Krug is on long-term IR and Tucker isn't due to be re-assessed for weeks after knee surgery. Logan Mailloux rejoined the team Friday but is still listed on IR, and the search didn't show whether he played. On Nashville's side, the search also didn't settle whether Jonathan Marchessault came back from his lower-body injury or missed a 3rd straight game. Either way, the Preds won without needing an answer to it.
