The Nashville Predators continued their strong play in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 3-1 win Sunday afternoon over the St Louis Blues.
The win sends the Predators to a the third round of the post season, the Western 
Conference Finals.
“The expectation is a Stanley Cup,” the Predators’ P.K. Subban said. “I think we took a big step today and obviously for this organization and the city, but that’s not our ultimate goal. Our ultimate goal is to win the Stanley Cup, and we’ve worked really hard to put ourselves in a good position.”
Nashville won the series 4-2.
Roman Josi had a goal.
Ryan Johansen scored the game-winner early in the third period.
“What a pass by [Arvidsson] obviously but I don’t know if you guys noticed, but Yannick Weber with the sense of mind to push me from behind to give me a little boost got me in a position where I could be in alone with the goalie,” Johansen said. “Huge credit to [Weber], obviously the pass by [Arvidsson] and definitely a big goal at the time.”
Calle Jarnkrok added an empty-netter to seal it.
“It’s a great feeling right now,” Josi said. “It was a tough series. Every game was tight, every game was a battle so we’re really happy right now.”
Pekka Rinne made 23 saves to pick up the win.
“Right now it means everything. We haven’t gone further than this before. Obviously it’s a great feeling, but there’s a lot of work left. After this second round, there’s only four teams left. We all know we have what it takes, and everything is in our hands. It’s a good feeling. This is why you play this game, and right now I’m pretty happy,” Rinne said after the win.
Paul Stastny staked the Blues to an early 1-0 lead in the first period when Nashville was seemingly off stride.
[WATCH: All Blues vs. Predators highlights | RELATED: Complete St. Louis vs. Nashville series coverage]
Jake Allen was stellar in the second and third periods when he stopped several Predators’ breakaways; he made 15 saves in taking the loss.
“We didn’t find a way to win on the road. We had to since we lost one of those games at home. It doesn’t matter if it was home or on the road, it was tough games, hard-fought battles. Unfortunately today we came out on the wrong side of it,” St Louis’ Alexander Steen said.
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