Blues at Predators preview/GameDay Thread: Hop to it

Apologies on the double-duty post today. It’s a holiday, and I’ll be with my family around puck-drop - Hildy

The Blues’ win yesterday afternoon against the Minnesota Wild was a dominant one for about two periods, but the team took their foot off of the gas for the third allowing the Wild to tie the score and force overtime.

Lesson learned, hopefully. The postseason doesn’t make a lot of allowances for lapses in judgement. Honestly, neither do the Nashville Predators. They silenced Patrick Kane and the Blackhawks yesterday 4-3. Juuse Soros put in a solid performance, Philip Forsberg had two assists, and Mikael Granlund added a goal and an assist.

With Soros getting the start yesterday, there’s a possibility that the Blues see backup David Rittich today. Rittich hasn’t gotten many starts, going 5-3-2 this season with a 3.21 GAA and a .891 save percentage. The Preds are still tied with the Stars for the first wild card spot, but Vegas is four points behind. Soros may be pulling back-to-back duties with the playoffs on the line.

If Rittich starts, it’ll be interesting to see if he can handle the Blues’ offense. Vladimir Tarasenko is on a four game scoring streak, and Robert Thomas extended his point streak to 12 yesterday. The Blues have four players with more than 60 points, and if he has a few more games like yesterday, Brayden Schenn should breach that total before the end of the season. David Perron and Ivan Barbashev aren’t far behind.

The Blues have points in their last 11 games and are cruising on a eight game winning streak. Today’s their final time seeing the Preds during the regular season - they’ve played them well this year, with a 2-0-1 record so far.