The St. Louis Blues endured a disastrous visit to Nashville last Thursday, absorbing a 7-2 beating from the Predators.
The Blues will seek some redemption against their Central Division rival on Monday night when they host a rematch with the Predators.
In the previous meeting between these teams, Steven Stamkos scored four times as Nashville converted rebound after rebound into goals. Filip Forsberg, Michael Bunting and former Blue Ryan O’Reilly also scored for the Predators while Luke Evangelista had three assists.
“We kind of got away from our game, kind of fell apart,” Blues defenseman Logan Mailloux said.
After that blowout, Blues coach Jim Montgomery again urged his team to defend harder and play tougher, especially around the net. The players responded with more physicality Friday during a 3-2 home victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.
“I think from the puck drop (Friday) we kind of played some Blues hockey and we stuck with it,” Mailloux said. “Team toughness, it makes us hard to play against. That’s what we want to be. We don’t want teams looking forward to coming in here and playing us.”
Mailloux and Blues forward Dylan Holloway had fights against the Blackhawks and their team was generally more competitive in the hard areas of the ice.
“You see guys driving middle lane, stopping at the net,” Montgomery said. “When defensemen were shooting, we had bodies at the net. Defensemen were pinching pucks, forwards were replacing them. In the D-zone, the box outs were hard and heavy at our own net. Getting back, winning goal-line races so we could break pucks out quickly.”
During the previous game against Nashville, Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington allowed six goals in two periods. Joel Hofer replaced him for the third period, then he delivered a winning performance against Chicago on Friday.
While the Blues had two days to rest and prepare for this rematch, the Predators suffered a 4-2 loss Saturday night at Colorado. But Predators coach Andrew Brunette liked how his team played against the explosive Avalanche.
“I really liked our road game,” Brunette said. “(The Avalanche have) a very fast team. They’re the No. 1 team in the league for a reason, but I thought we hung in there. And I’ll take that road game any night.”
The Blues have the NHL’s worst goal differential this season at minus-34. The Predators have the third worst at minus-22.
Like St. Louis, Nashville needs to get more from its veteran forwards. Aside from his four-goal outburst against the Blues, Stamkos has produced just 11 points (eight goals, three assists) in his other 30 games.
Jonathan Marchessault has two power-play goals in his last three games for the Predators and four power-play goals overall. But he has just three goals and three assists at even strength in 26 games.
“I definitely would like to help my team 5-on-5,” Marchessault said. “Yeah, it’s good to get the power play going, but I mean, I used to be a pretty good player 5-on-5, and now I really struggle producing offensively 5-on-5. So definitely have to figure that out.”
