Brian Elliott was dominant in goal with his third straight shutout, stopping all of Nashville's 24 shots. Pekka Rinne was a hard luck loser, giving up three goals on 24 Blues' shots.
The Blues got all the offense they needed from Jamie Langenbrunner's second period goal. David Perron and T. J. Oshie's goals were just icing on the cake for the Blues.
Barry Trotz was denied his 500th win by his friend and rival, Ken Hitchcock who appears to be a lock for the Jack Adams' Trophy for coach of the year. The Preds also missed a chance to lock up a playoff berth had they managed a point in the game.
The Predators returned home after the game and will practice on Wednesday and Thursday before heading to Detroit for a match for fourth place with the Wings on Friday.
Make the jump for more details from the game...
At The Puck Drop...
In Goal: Pekka Rinne (41-16-8, 2.41, .922) versus Brian Elliott (22-9-3, 1.52, .941)
Scratches: Predators - Martin Erat, Craig Smith, Jordin Tootoo, Brian McGrattan, Jack Hillen, Roman Josi, and Jack MacLellan. Blues - Andy McDonald, Ian Cole, B.J. Crombeen, Chris Porter, and Roman Polak.
First Period...
The game started with plenty of back and forth action with the Blues getting better chances early.
The Blues went on the man advantage first at 7:00 when Alex Radulov hooked Kevin Shattenkirk. The Blues had two excellent chances but did not convert.
The Predators best chance came at 12:04 when Radulov was stoned by Elliott on a point blank wrister.
The period ended with no scoring but gritty, hard-hitting play at both ends of the ice. The Predators had a horrible period controlling faceoffs, losing 12 of 14.
| 1st Period | Goals | Shots | Corsi | PIMs | Faceoffs |
| Predators | 0 | 8 | 11 | 1-2:00 | 2-12 14% |
| Blues | 0 | 6 | 20 | 0-0:00 | 12-2 86% |
Second Period...
The Blues had a flurry of scoring chances early with Jason Arnott having a one on one chance at 1:29 and then another one when Rinne lost his stick at 1:49.
The Preds almost got on the board at 5:15 when Radulov put the puck on Mike Fisher's stik but Elliott was able to cover.
The Blues broke through with the first goal at 6:35 when Arnott skated through the slot and dropped it back to Langenbrunner who put it past a distracted Rinne to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.
The gritty Matt Halischuk tried pushing a rebound in off of a Ryan Suter shot at 9:28 but was met with resistance from Elliott and the Blues defenders.
With six seconds left, Radulov had a great wrap-around that was stopped by Elliott and Weber got a shot off the rebound that also was blocked.
| 2nd Period | Goals | Shots | Corsi | PIMs | Faceoffs |
| Predators | 0 | 12 | 20 | 0-0:00 | 8-12 40% |
| Blues | 1 | 7 | 19 | 0-0:00 | 12-8 60% |
Third Period...
The Blues basically put the game out of reach with their stellar goaltending when Perron skated past Kevin Klein to score at 4:47 to give the Blues a 2-0 lead.
The Blues immediately went into a trapping defense that severely limited time and space for the Predators.
At 13:52, Rinne stopped an initial shot from Oshe and then he made a second swat at the puck and knocked it into the net but the goal was initially waived off. The review indicated that Rinne was pushed in a horrible call.
At 16:00, Oshie finally made it legal and gave the Blues a 3-0 lead.
The Preds had one last gasp at 18:01 when Shattenkirk cross-checked Patric Hornqvist to put Nashville on the power play. The Preds were unable to muster a shot.
Rinne was pulled with 1:22 left in the game but the Predators could not produce with the extra skater.
| 3rd Period | Goals | Shots | Corsi | PIMs | Faceoffs |
| Predators | 0 | 4 | 17 | 0-0:00 | 13-6 68% |
| Blues | 2 | 11 | 16 | 1-2:00 | 6-13 32% |
Final...
| Final | Goals | Shots | Corsi | PIMs | Faceoffs |
| Predators | 0 | 24 | 48 | 1-2:00 | 23-30 65% |
| Blues | 3 | 24 | 55 | 1-2:00 | 30-23 35% |
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
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