Friday, December 30, 2011

Predators Beat Blues 2-1 in the Shoot-out in St. Louis

For the second game in a row and the second straight game against St. Louis, the Nashville Predators headed to the shoot-out to decide the outcome of Friday night's contest against the Blues at the Scottrrade Center.

The result was the same as the other two games with the Predators winning in the skills contest when Marty Erat was the only shooter of ten to score when he went glove high on  Jaroslav Halak in the top of the fifth round to give the Predators the 2-1 victory.

The only two goals in regulation play came from the Preds' Matt Halischuk at 2:16 in the opening period on a broken play and from T.J. Oshie at the 13:40 mark in the same period. No one could find the net for the next 51:20 of play so the game proceeded to the shoot-out.

It was a goaltenders battle as Pekka Rinne stopped 35 of 36 Blues shots, and all five in the shoot-out, while longtime Preds' nemesis Jaroslav Halak stopped all but one of the Preds' 34 shots during full-ice play.

The win was the third in a row over St. Louis this season and puts the Preds three points behind the Blues in the standings to finish the calendar year 2011 with a 45-27-9 record.

The Predators returned home immediately after the game and will play Calgary in a special 5 p.m. start at Bridgestone Arena on New Years Day.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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