Blues stay sharp

The St Louis Blues nearly went flat Sunday and survived a third period let down to defeat the Nashville Predators on the road, 5-4, in overtime.

Vladimir Tarasenko‘s goal in the extra session finished off a hat trick for him and gave the Blues the win.

Alex Pietrangelo had a goal in Blues win – file photo by Lewis Bleiman

“Yeah, I just try take it to the net. Just had to beat one guy,” Tarasenko said. “Good things happen when you go to the net and win the game for us. It feels nice, especially against Nashville, we got these four points. It’s huge for the team.”

The Blues improved to 27-22-5 on the strength of their sixth straight win.

Jake Allen made 40 saves in his first action since mid January.

“I’ll tell you, I’d put that up against anything in the world. That’s tough,” Allen said. “I think it’s probably one of the longest stretches I’ve been off since I played, been in the NHL. It’s tough. If you’re a goalie or a player, sticking your legs back more than anything, you always feel a little bit wonky out there at the start of the game, but you try and settle in as quick as you can and find your rhythm again. So that was the biggest thing. A big game, a big rivalry and we’re clawing for points. It was tough, but it was fun.”

Viktor Arvidsson struck for two goals and Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg  added single markers.

“I think we had a good first period, but a couple mistakes cost us in the second,” Arvidsson said. “Then we really got going in the third and played our game in the third and really pushed for it.”

The Preds dropped to 33-19-5.

“It was a great hockey game, back and forth,” Ryan Johansen said. “These guys are playing good hockey and it was fun playing against them again tonight.”

Alex Pietrangelo and Tyler Bozak also scored for the Blues.

[WATCH: All Blues vs. Predators highlights]

Juuse Saros had 24 saves in the loss.

“It was a different game completely for us today in a positive way. I hate the result because we didn’t walk away with another point, but for me, the speed and the competitiveness, the shots, the attempts, the looks that we had — I thought they were good,” Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said after the loss.