Preds Rout St. Louis, 6-2, for First Win at Bridgestone Arena in 2022-23

Smashville, rejoice. The five-game skid is over.
The Predators finally earned their first win on home ice in 2022-23 - and their 900th win in franchise history - with a decisive 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday at Bridgestone Arena.

Roman Josi - who entered the game with one point (1a) in seven games - had a goal and two assists, while Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene notched three assists apiece. Juuse Saros made 33 saves in net to earn his second win of the 2022-23 season.
"It's a big, big win for us," Josi said. "I thought that we started well. They got on the board first and we had some adversity in the second period, and penalties too, but we did a good job fighting back and we definitely needed that one."
The Preds played a strong game in front of the net, with three of their six goals coming directly off the rebound.
"Tonight we came out really hard and tried to play physical, play in the dirty areas," said Michael McCarron, who tallied his first goal of the season in the second period. "We got a lot of goals around the net tonight, greasy goals, and those are the kind of goals that are going to get you out of a slump."
St. Louis struck first, with a redirection and tip-in goal from Robert Thomas just 67 seconds into the first period. But later in the frame, Colton Sissons dominated in the face-off circle, sending the puck back between his legs to set up Josi's shot that deflected off the skate of Yakov Trenin. Tanner Jeannot then scored on the rebound and tied the score at 1-1 with 3:04 remaining in the first.
"We know that's one thing that we're good at," Jeannot said. "We're a big forward group so we can get in front of the goalie's eyes… So, we made an emphasis to get in front of the goalie's eyes so we could get those rebounds that came out."
Josi was called for a delayed cross-checking penalty early in the second frame, giving the Blues their second power-play opportunity of the night. With just four seconds remaining on the man advantage, Brayden Schenn ripped a shot past Saros to give the Blues a 2-1 lead at 6:24 of the second period.
The Preds fourth line responded in a big way, with McCarron and Zach Sanford netting their first goals of the season - and Sanford's first as a member of the Predators. McCarron scored on the rebound of another Josi shot to knot the score at 2-2, and Sanford followed up with a highlight-reel wraparound goal less than a minute later to give the Preds their first lead of the night heading into the second intermission.
"I was just trying to get some space to get around the net and I saw I had a little room on the other side," said Sanford, who won a Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019. "I think my first reaction was just to take it to the net hard. I think that's kind of our line's identity, is to be harder on the net."
The Preds took a two-goal lead just 1:11 into the third period with a 3-on-1 goal from Ryan Johansen, who cleaned up the rebound on a shot from Forsberg assisted by Duchene.
"We know how good the goalies are in this League and we've got to make it as difficult as we can on them," Johansen said. "We did a good job getting there and finding ways to get some ugly goals."
Josi tallied his first goal of the 2022-23 campaign on a shot that bounced off a St. Louis skater to end up in the back of the net at 13:06 of the third period.
"Sometimes it's funny in hockey," Josi said. "Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. And I thought my game has gotten better over the last couple of games and I think you saw it tonight. My first goal was kind of a lucky bounce, but I think that just happens. You've got to focus on playing well and focus on the process and the rest will follow."
The Blues pulled goaltender Thomas Greiss with six minutes remaining in regulation, resulting in an empty-net goal from Mikael Granlund for a final score of 6-2.
"We came in and certainly prepared ourselves to play the way that we needed to play and to be able to come out and get rewarded," Head Coach John Hynes said. "A lot of good things tonight. It was nice to see [Saros] back to be able to play the level that he can play at. It's nice that the power play got off and got on the board. I thought our penalty kill came up with some key saves. And it was just nice in general. I think when you work the way that we worked, then you get rewarded. We talked a lot about getting more to the inside, getting to the net front. We got some goals in that area of the ice tonight. So I think tonight was a good recipe basically to reinforce the things that we certainly need to do and what allows us to be a good team."
The Predators will be back in action Saturday at Bridgestone Arena, where they will host the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m. CT.