(Sports Network) - The St. Louis Blues will try to start a season with three straight wins for the first time in 17 years when they visit the rival Nashville Predators for a Central Division clash tonight at Bridgestone Arena.
The Blues have posted wins over Philadelphia and Anaheim to begin the season and last went 3-0 to open a campaign from October 7-13, 1993. Tonight will mark St. Louis' first road contest of the season, but the club was solid as the visitor last season, going 22-14-5 away from the Gateway City.
After notching a 2-1 overtime victory over Philadelphia in the season opener on Saturday, the Blues were very impressive in Monday's 5-1 thrashing of the visiting Anaheim Ducks. Matt D'Agostini scored twice to lead the way for St. Louis at Scottrade Center.
Andy McDonald, B.J. Crombeen and David Backes also tallied for the Blues, while T.J. Oshie registered a pair of assists in the victory. Jaroslav Halak stopped 13-of-14 shots in the win and is expected to get the start again tonight.
It hasn't been all good news for the Blues, however, as forward Cam Janssen was recently placed on injured reserve due to a concussion and bruised sternum suffered in the season opener against Philadelphia. The physical forward sustained the injury while trying to deliver a hit on a Flyers' player, but Janssen collided with teammate Brad Winchester instead. Janssen is expected to miss at least two weeks of action.
Nashville is also unbeaten on the year, posting wins over Anaheim and Chicago to begin the 2010-11 campaign.
The Predators were in action on Wednesday night, when they earned a 3-2 victory in Chicago. Joel Ward scored with just 27 seconds left in the game to give Nashville the thrilling win over the defending Stanley Cup champions.
"There was a broken play and then there was a pass that came down to J.P. [Dumont] down low," Ward said. "I just wanted to get open on the back side and sure enough I had an empty net."
Steve Sullivan and Colin Wilson each had a goal for the Predators. Anders Lindback stopped 23 shots for his first win in his first NHL start.
Lindback was starting in place of injured No. 1 goaltender Pekka Rinne. who is out with a lower-body injury. Rinne is expected to miss tonight's game also and either Lindback or Mark Dekanich will get the start this evening.
Nashville winger Martin Erat also missed Wednesday's game with back spasms and is doubtful for tonight's tilt.
The Predators dominated the Blues in 2009-10, winning five out of six meetings in the season series. Nashville has taken seven of nine overall from St. Louis and the Blues have been defeated in six of their last nine trips to Music City.