Nashville, TN (Sports Network) – Steve Sullivan netted two goals to help the Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues, 4-3, at Bridgestone Arena.
T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund and Matt D’Agostini each had a goal for St. Louis, which posted home wins over Philadelphia and Anaheim to begin the season. Jaroslav Halak was beaten four times on 22 shots.
Berglund scored on the power play, taking a feed from Andy McDonald and snapping the puck behind Lindback at the 5:13 mark of the third period, to draw the Blues to within a goal.
Nashville’s Joel Ward was called for tripping with 1:03 remaining in regulation. St. Louis pulled Halak to create a 6-on-4 advantage, but couldn’t generate the equalizer.
Goc staked the Predators to a 1-0 lead 56 seconds into the contest, collecting his own blocked shot and firing a wrister from between the circles that beat Halak on the stick side.
Nashville then converted a 5-on-3 power play as Sullivan one-timed a cross-ice pass from Ryan Suter at 11:14 of the first period. Blues defenseman Eric Brewer had lifted the puck over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty 10 seconds after forward Brad Boyes went off for holding, giving the Predators a lengthy two-man advantage.
D’Agostini put St. Louis on the board at 13:37 of the opening frame, but Sullivan hammered a Cal O’Reilly pass over the glove of Halak 15 seconds later to restore Nashville’s two-goal lead.
The teams traded power-play goals in the middle stanza. Oshie scored on a backhander at 8:15, cutting St. Louis’ deficit to 3-2, and Hornqvist banged home the rebound of O’Reilly’s shot under Halak’s right pad at 16:21.
O’Reilly registered three assists…The Predators dominated the series between the clubs last season, winning five of the six meetings…The Blues haven’t started a season 3-0 since 1993-94.