Cody McLeod scored the game-winner early in the second period, and the Predators beat the St. Louis Blues 3-1 Sunday to grab a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference semifinal.
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Nashville won, 3-1, in Game 3, taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series on an afternoon when the Blues weren’t almost competitive enough, according to coach Mike Yeo.
The Blues, who rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie Game 1 in the third period, responded again with Jori Lehtera getting his first goal of the playoffs.
Vladimir Tarasenko and his St Louis Blues team-mates proved the Nashville Predators are beatable after prevailing 3-2 in the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs.
NY was on its way toward evening the series as it held a two-goal advantage with less than 3 1/2 minutes remaining in Game 2.
The phrase “must-win” is overused in sports, but anyone would agree that going down 0-2 to the Nashville Predators before heading into their building for Games 3 and 4 was not a scenario the Blues desired.
“They put us on our heels, put us behind, created a lot of momentum”, St. Louis goalie Jake Allen said.
Vladimir Tarasenko is a special player, and his skills make him the most indispensable forward on the St. Louis Blues roster. As long as Nashville’s offense can get back to their production from their five previous wins this postseason, and Pekka Rinne bounces back in net, the Predators should take the lead back in this series.
Jakob Silfverberg scored twice to lead the Anaheim Ducks to a 6-3 victory over Edmonton on Sunday night, cutting the Oilers’ series lead to 2-1. They took the lead in the first period and were not relinquishing it easily. They played a good game, too. LW Nick Ritchie, who missed Game 2 with an illness, returned for game three, . The Predators won 3-1.
“It’s a great play by Schwartzy and then I probably scream for Eddy to give it to me and he made a good play”, Tarasenko said. Nashville finished the night with 23 penalty minutes, including a 10-minute misconduct, compared to just two for St. Louis. “It’s a series. Obviously going home now and a huge game at home on Sunday”. Sobotka has two goals and three helpers in eight playoff games. May.
Tarasenko now ranks third on the Blues all-time franchise list with 22 postseason goals. “We had to make a couple of changes personnel-wise for the next game and look at the tape and see what we can do differently a little bit better than tonight because it wasn’t good enough”. We started the game the way we wanted to start it. The Predators also went the entire contest without a single opportunity on the power play.
“The more you have the puck”, Subban summed up, “the less defense you play”.
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Elias Sports Bureau says teams starting 2-0 on the road are 69-18 (79.3 percent) all-time in playoff series and those going up 2-0 in a best-of-seven series are 309-48 (86.6 percent) all-time.
