Thomas has four points, Blues recover for win against Predators

NASHVILLE --Robert Thomas scored four points for the St. Louis Blues in a 7-4 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

Thomas, who had two goals and two assists, gave the Blues a 5-4 lead with 2:38 remaining in the third period after a pass from Jordan Kyrou. Thomas has scored four goals in his past two games.
"That's nice, but it's more about the team," Thomas said. "We've had two big wins to get back on track (6-2 against the New York Rangers on Thursday), and this is a huge divisional game. That's more important."
David Perron scored twice, and Kyrou had three assists for the Blues (34-17-7), who won their second straight after losing four in a row. Ville Husso made 31 saves.
Matt Duchene (two goals, one assist) and Ryan Johansen (one goal, two assists) each scored three points for the Predators (33-21-4), who had won three in a row. Juuse Saros made 28 saves for Nashville, which trailed 3-0 in the first period.
"I thought we played a really good game," Duchene said. "We showed a lot of resiliency. They're a good team. They're clicking well. But that one stings because we played such a good game, had so many good looks. We probably felt like we should have won that game."

Perron gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 6:35 of the first period with a power-play goal from the left face-off dot. He has a three-game goal streak and seven goals in his past six games.
Brandon Saad scored 48 seconds later to make it 2-0, and Thomas extended the lead to 3-0 at 17:42 with a power-play goal.
The Blues hadn't scored a power-play goal in five games (0-for-10) but entered Saturday third in the NHL in power-play percentage (26.1 percent).
"To outscore this team in the first period in their rink, you look at their stats, they are a good first-period team," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "They outscore teams and don't give up a lot in the first period because they come with a lot of pressure right away, and they are a heavy forecheck team. We did a good job in the first period. We made plays, we handled their forecheck, and we put pucks deep and went to work."
Duchene made it 3-1 at 18:34 of the first, extending his point streak to five games (11 points; eight goals, three assists).
The Predators cut the lead to 3-2 at 3:44 of the second period when Johansen scored a power-play goal on a one-timer. Filip Forsberg tied it 3-3 at 8:14, finishing a 3-on-2. He has scored five points (two goals, three assists) in his past two games.

Torey Krug gave the Blues a 4-3 lead at 11:38 when his shot from the blue line deflected off the stick of Nashville defenseman Mattias Ekholm.
Duchene's second goal tied it 4-4 at 12:17. It was his 31st of the season, tying his NHL career high set in 2018-19 with the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets. He has scored two goals in four of his past five games.
"He's a highly talented player," Predators coach John Hynes said. "When you combine high talent with high work ethic, high compete and him playing smart, he allows himself to get into scoring situations. He's playing with a lot of confidence, but he's earned it with the way he's playing."

Perron extended the lead to 6-4 at 18:03 of the third period with an empty-net goal, and Justin Faulk scored an empty-net goal at 18:27 for the 7-4 final.
"This is a hard building to play in," Berube said. "The fans are energetic. [The Predators] play hard. We knew it was going to be a close one, no matter how it started. Obviously, you don't want to lose a 3-0 lead, but we found a way to battle back and get the two points."
NOTES:Bluesforward Vladimir Tarasenko had two assists and has 493 points (237 goals, 256 assists), tied with Pavol Demitra for sixth in their history. Bernie Federko leads with 1,073. … Krug scored his 400th NHL point (76 goals, 324 assists) with an assist on Perron's first goal. He has scored 32 points (eight goals, 24 assists) this season, and 64 points (10 goals, 54 assists) in two seasons with St. Louis after playing nine seasons for the Boston Bruins. … Duchene became the eighth player in Predators history to score at least 30 goals in a season (10 times); Viktor Arvidsson (34 goals) was the last to do it in 2018-19. … Nashville defenseman Roman Josi had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (nine points; one goal, eight assists).