GDT Game 59: 2/13/18 | 7:00 PM CT | @ Predators | FSMW/KMOX

[theohall]

Pekka Rinne and the Nashville Predators worked overtime to come home from Montreal with first place in the Central Division in their mitts.

Rinne's 47 saves Saturday night, including 10 in overtime, enabled Nashville to steal two points in La Belle Province with a 3-2 shootout win. At 33-12-9, the Predators have 75 points and games in hand on second-place Winnipeg and third-place St. Louis.

A chance to create further separation from St. Louis happens Tuesday night when Nashville opens a four-game homestand in Bridgestone Arena.

The Predators went 2-0-2 on an Eastern Conference road swing, with every game going into overtime or a shootout.

The trip's finale had all the earmarks of a defeat, except Rinne came up with a spate of huge saves in OT to extend the game into the shootout, where his three saves and Ryan Ellis' first-round goal decided the issue.

"He gave us an opportunity to leave the building with the points," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "We need to play a lot better in front of him ... he was outstanding. He was incredible tonight."

Based on last spring's Western Conference semifinals, as well as the Predators' two wins this season against St. Louis, there's no reason to expect Rinne to be any less incredible in this showdown.

Rinne (28-8-4, 2.30, .927) has ceded just one goal to the Blues in 2-0 and 2-1 victories during the 2017 portion of the season.

In Nashville's 4-2 series victory over St. Louis last year, Rinne permitted only 11 goals.

"He was there all night long, making these post-to-post cross-ice saves," Predators center Ryan Johansen said of Rinne after the win in Montreal. "He was phenomenal. Hats off to him tonight."

Not only are the Predators two points clear of the Jets and four ahead of the Blues, they also have played two fewer games than Winnipeg and four less than St. Louis (34-21-3). They also have a game in hand on Vegas, which is a point ahead of them for the conference's best record.

That makes this game even more critical for the Blues, who come into town off a frustrating 4-1 loss Sunday to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

St. Louis appeared to take a 2-1 lead early in the third period, but Paul Stastny's tip-in was overturned by the Situation Room when they ruled he played it with a high stick. The Penguins scored 34 seconds later and never looked back.

"It wasn't our worst game we played," Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo said. "I thought we battled hard. It's 1-1 until obviously the third and a couple of mistakes. You've got to find a way to win a hockey game. But if you look at the overall effort, it was there."

St. Louis outshot Pittsburgh 34-23 but appeared to wear down in the third period as it played its third game in four days. The Blues held an optional practice Monday that most of their top players skipped.

Either Jake Allen (19-16-2, 2.74 goals-against average, .908 save percentage) or former Nashville backup Carter Hutton (15-5-1, 1.70, .944), who has played the best hockey of his career this season, will start in the net for St. Louis.

[theohall]

But if you look at the overall effort, it was there.

Don't like that quote, because after the 4 really good 3rd period PP chances followed by that turnover, the Blues looked super lethargic for the last approximately 9 minutes of the game. They started dilly dallying at neutral ice. Stopped going north first. Kept looking for perfect entries or home run passes, instead of skating, working, fore-checking, and taking what was given like they had done for the first 51 minutes.

Overall effort means a 60 minute effort and is what's needed to win in the playoffs. Not a 51 minute effort and getting down because the breaks and calls aren't going your way.

[gaijin]

Don't have a lot of optimism for this game. Preds are hot, playing in their home arena, Rinne is on top form. Plus, as is the Blues' pattern, they seem to have had things figured out for a couple of games, then suddenly looked like they forgot how to play. If that trend holds, we have 1-2 ugly games ahead of us before "figuring things out" again for a couple of games.

That aside, I'd like to see Hutton in net tonight, so he can play against his former team.

[WaukeeBlues]

Great little run the Blues went on there bouncing back from that 6-1 Wild loss, only to fall flat against the Penguins. Grr. Frustrating.

This whole 50/50 thing isn't a very good way to assure the Blues are getting into the playoffs. This will be a tough one. But hey, just beat the Jets on the road, so let's GET IT

Blues 3
Preds 1

[gaijin]

Great little run the Blues went on there bouncing back from that 6-1 Wild loss, only to fall flat against the Penguins. Grr. Frustrating.

This whole 50/50 thing isn't a very good way to assure the Blues are getting into the playoffs. This will be a tough one. But hey, just beat the Jets on the road, so let's GET IT

That's the perplexing thing. They will bounce back and forth between losing horribly at home to lower-tier teams to beating division leaders in their own arenas.

I guess tonight's game falls into that latter category, but who knows which team will show up?

[cardsfan04]

The inconsistency is a problem. I've said it before, but the best thing for this team is for Allen to figure it out again. Not that he's been awful or that goaltending has been a big problem (Hutton has been great). But, a locked in Allen would make a lot of problems not look so bad.

[theohall]

I would prefer to see the team locked in on their defensive zone play and not "pressing" at the opposing blue line and in the neutral zone when they get down one goal. That would go further to solving the consistency issues, IMO.

By pressing - I mean hurrying passes, forcing passes across vice making the safer play, not dumping and chasing when the other options have been taken away, looking for home runs, etc. 2nd GA vs the Penguins was a good example of "pressing." Dunn is usually lots more patient with the puck, but we've seen Pietrangelo make that same mistake on multiple occasions when the Blues are trailing in a game.

[Robb_K]

Why is Thompson not playing in this game, knowing that The Blue have had such trouble scoring recently in Nashville's arena??? Do they think he is a defensive liability?

[Robb_K]

Good kill. allowed no shots.

[Robb_K]

Bouwmeester buries a one-timer from over 40 ft. out!! Blues lead 1-0!!!

[Robb_K]

Good kill, no good chances.

Then Rinne robs Schwartz!

[Robb_K]

Good road 1st Period for The Blues to lead in Nashville.

[gaijin]

Steen with the rebound! 2-0 Blues!

[Robb_K]

Steen knocks in Stastny's rebound, and The Blues lead 2-0!!!

[Robb_K]

Great chances for Berglund and Schwartz. And The Blues will go on The Power Play!!!

And Schwartz knocks in the PP goal!!!! Blues lead 3-0!!!

[Robb_K]

Super stretch pass to Schwartz by Dunn for a clean breakaway, but Rinne stones him!!!

[Robb_K]

Bad call giving Pietrangelo a penalty. He did NOTHING. The Pred just fell down. Blues need to kill this penalty.

[Robb_K]

The Blues carry the "dreaded" 3-goal lead into The 3rd! Can they come out with a victory? Stay tuned!

[gaijin]

The Blues carry the "dreaded" 3-goal lead into The 3rd! Can they come out with a victory? Stay tuned!

I think that's supposed to be the dreaded 3-goal lead at home.

So let's go with that.

[theohall]

So Steen gets called for high-sticking in the last game - on a follow through.

This game, Steen gets high-sticked on a follow through and it's NOT high-sticking??

Just be f'in consistent from game-to-game.