The St. Louis Blues went nearly 13 minutes without registering a shot a goal in the second period. When they finally put one towards Predators’ goalie Pekka Rinne, it went in the net. The Blues netted their only goal on their first shot of that period, and were outshot 34-23 for the game and lost 3-1 to fall behind 2-1 in the series.
Jake Allen kept this thing from getting out of hand. He made 31 saves. Ryan Ellis scored in the first period, Cody McLeod had a nifty deflection in the second and Roman Josi scored late in the third.
“They upped their game, they took their game to another level and we didn’t match it,” said Blues coach Mike Yeo.
The Blues had won three on the road at Minnesota and finished the regular season winning nine of ten away from Scottrade Center and will need to find some of that road warrior mentality for game four or they will find themselves with their backs against the wall. The Predators have won seven straight home playoff games dating back to last season, including the first three this postseason.
“That’s a credit to our fans and the energy that comes into this building,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought the response was good today.”
