Thomas scores twice, Blues defeat Predators

ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Blues scored a season-high four goals in the first period of a 7-4 win against the Nashville Predators at Enterprise Center on Friday.

Robert Thomas scored twice, Cam Fowler had a goal and two assists and Jordan Kyrou had a goal and an assist for the Blues (17-16-4), who are 2-0-1 their past three games. Joel Hofer made 26 saves.

“I thought the speed of the game was good,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought our habits and details, which are what you’re looking for after a three-day break like that, that we just keep getting better and I thought we did. I thought our checking skills got better, I thought we started hanging onto pucks more and I thought our passing was pretty good all night.”

Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault each had a goal and an assist for the Predators (11-18-7), who were 3-0-1 their past four games. Juuse Saros allowed five goals on 15 shots before being pulled in the second period. Justus Annunen made 12 saves on 13 shots in relief.

“There were some opportunities there to win the hockey game,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “Unfortunately we did some things early in the game that was hard for us to come back and obviously taking a penalty there late, I thought we had good momentum. That one hurt.

“I didn’t like our mindset early in the game right from the first goal against. We didn’t do that the whole (previous) homestand. … We weren’t playing quite as direct as we have been playing.”

The Blues scored twice in the first three minutes of the first period when Thomas made it 1-0 at 1:20, when he intercepted a Gustav Nyquist pass in the neutral zone and went in alone on Saros after Nashville defenseman Brady Skjei fell down. Zack Bolduc made it 2-0 at 2:47 on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle using a defenseman as a screen.

“I didn’t really see my shot,” Bolduc said. “I just tried to bring the puck to the net and [Oskar Sundqvist] did a good job there by driving the net. I (made) a great shot, but it was a good play by my linemate, too.”

Mark Jankowski made it 2-1 at 5:42 four seconds after a Predators power play expired when he chipped in the puck from the hash marks.

Kyrou’s spin and shoot from the slot made it 3-1 at 9:57.

Stamkos scored a power-play goal at 13:17 from the left circle to make it 3-2.

Fowler tallied his first goal as a Blue with a slap shot from the point at 18:05 to make it 4-2.

Fowler was acquired in a trade from the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 14 for a pick and a prospect.

“I’ve felt so supported since I’ve been here, (from) the crowd and the organization,” Fowler said. “I’m grateful for that. Always nice to get the first one out of the way. That was actually the first of the season too. You can kind of get the monkey off the back with the season and the team. Now it’s nice to put that behind me and keep moving forward.”

Nick Blankenburg cut Nashville’s deficit to one again at 4-3 when he drove the net and slipped the puck five-hole at 5:31 of the second period.

Philip Broberg ended Saros’ night when he beat the Predators goalie from the left circle at 15:29. Saros poked the puck directly to Broberg, who wristed it into the far corner of the net for a 5-3 score.

Marchessault's power-play goal at 11:00 of the third period cut the deficit to 5-4.

Thomas answered with his second goal of the game while on a 4-on-3 power play at 15:10 to make it 6-4.

“[Pavel Buchnevich] does a great job,” Thomas said. “I’m moving, I see the goalie, he’s leaning one way. He had a great screen and he kind of moved right as I was shooting. Goalie didn’t even see it. Very unselfish and a great way to get our power play going, as we’ve been struggling.”

Colton Parayko made it 7-4 with a short-handed, empty-net goal at 18:45.

Four different times the Predators were able to cut the deficit to one but could never get the tying goal.

“It was just too sloppy early,” Stamkos said. “I know it’s coming off a break, but those are the games you want to be on the right side of, to build the momentum off of what we did before the break. I thought it was a missed opportunity, but … too sloppy with just giving them some chances with our own mistakes.”

NOTES: Fowler had five of St. Louis’ 19 blocked shots; it was his first multipoint game since Feb. 15, 2024 with the Ducks against the Ottawa Senators when he also had a goal and two assists. … Thomas has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) the past 12 games. … Predators forward Filip Forsberg had an assist to give him 11 points (all assists) in a six-game point streak. … Marchessault extended his goal streak (six goals) to five games and point streak to eight games (eight goals, five assists).