NASHVILLE, Tenn. — On Thursday, the Blues overcame poor special teams to beat Chicago.
On Saturday, in a 6-1 loss to the Predators, they weren’t as fortunate.
The Blues went 0 for 4 on the power play and allowed a short-handed goal in Nashville. Meanwhile, their penalty kill allowed two more goals and had another Predators power-play goal disallowed after a successful Craig Berube challenge.
In total, the Blues power play is now three for its last 24. The penalty kill allowed multiple goals for the fourth straight game. The PK has allowed 10 goals in the last four games.
Calle Rosen scored for the Blues with 11:24 left in the third period to spoil Juuse Saros’ shutout bid. The Blues have not been shut out since a 5-0 loss in Arizona on Jan. 26, but Sunday snapped a string of four straight games scoring at least five goals.
Thomas Greiss made 29 saves for the Blues.
Tommy Novak, Cody Glass, Colton Sissons, Luke Evangelista, Yakov Trenin and Philip Tomasino scored for the Predators.
The loss was just the second regulation loss for the Blues in the last nine games, and dropped them back to .500 (35-35-6) ahead of Sunday’s game with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins.
For the second straight game, the Blues started slowly in the first period. After needing 9:20 to record a shot on goal Thursday in Chicago, the Blues mustered three shots during the first period on Saturday. By the time the Blues registered their second shot on goal 11:09 into the first period, the Predators already had a 2-0 lead and a 7-2 lead in shots.
Novak scored after Kasperi Kapanen lost a faceoff in the Blues zone and slipped a backhand past Greiss. Glass followed up by tipping Novak’s shot on the power play.
In the second period, Sissons scored short-handed after a Jordan Kyrou turnover in the Predators zone, and as Sissons fought off a backchecking Kyrou to beat Greiss. Evangelista made it 4-0 with 6:33 left in the second period on a scramble around the net.
Kiefer Sherwood appeared to make it 5-0 on another Predators power play, but after review, officials ruled that Sherwood batted the puck into the net with a high stick.
Rosen’s point shot found the back of the net to make it 4-1, but Trenin capitalized on a Colton Parayko giveaway to extend the Nashville lead back to four goals. Tomasino's power-play goal with 1:54 remaining capped the scoring.
