In St Louis Wednesday night, Pekka Rinne made 29 saves to guide the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 win over the Blues.
The win snapped a three-game skid for the Preds.
“These are big division games and you really try to get ready for it, and I think for both teams, preparation-wise, it was different coming straight from the break, which was nice to have, but it’s also tough to come back and have that mental preparation,” Rinne said. “I thought we handled it pretty good. We didn’t have the best start again, but after that, I thought that we got it going. Personally, I had a tougher last two games, so it’s obviously nice to have a good game right after Christmas.”
Craig Smith and Calle Jarnkrok scored for Nashville who improved to 22-9-5.
“Pekka stood on his head and gave us a chance to win the game,” Smith said.
“There was a lot of good things in the game, but I think we’ve got to make it tougher on their goalie,” St Louis’ Joel Edmundson said. “I don’t think we threw enough pucks at [Rinne] from bad angles and we didn’t get bodies in front of the net. So, he saw most of the shots, but [Sobotka’s] goal, he went right to the net, and good things happen when you go to the net. We just didn’t make hard enough on Rinne.”
Vladimir Sobotka scored the lone goal for the Blues.
“It’s a division team. There’s a good chance we could face these guys in the playoffs. I think it’s always exciting to play against St. Louis. I love to play against them and have a lot of respect toward them. They have a really good team,” Rinne said of the Blues after the game.
[WATCH: All Predators vs. Blues highlights]
Jake Allen made 24 saves as the Blues dropped to 2-6-0 in their last eight games.
“I think we gave them everything they got. A lot of turnovers on our part. You can’t call it rust, three days off, but every team has to go through it, so there’s really no excuse there. It was right there for the taking,” Allen said after the loss.
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