ST. LOUIS — Brayden Schenn and Ivan Barbashev each had two goals and two assists for the St. Louis Blues in a 5-3 win against the Nashville Predators at Enterprise Center on Monday.
Schenn missed the previous two games in NHL COVID-19 protocol. The Blues’ reunited top line of Schenn, Ryan O’Reilly and Barbashev combined for 11 points (five goals, six assists), and each was plus-4.
Ville Husso made 32 saves for his eighth straight home win for the Blues (23-11-5), who went 4-1-0 in a five-game homestand and are 13-1-1 in their past 15 games in St. Louis.
“The whole team did a really good job,” Barbashev said. “We just played hard, we played smart. We tried not to give them a lot of chances, which there were a couple from our mistakes, but overall, I think it was a really good game for our line and really good team effort.”
Filip Forsberg scored in his return after missing four games in COVID-19 protocol, and Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators (24-13-3), who have lost three straight (0-2-1).
“I liked our competitiveness, I liked our work ethic in the game,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “That’s where we needed to be, a big, physical, hard game. I liked the way that the team competed. A couple areas we had complete control of the game. … The areas of the game that cost us were our rush details and support to be aggressive with our defensemen and when we’re not. That’s something we’ve got to clear up.”
Prior to the game, the Blues retired the No. 44 worn by former defenseman and Hockey Hall of Famer Chris Pronger. They then fell behind early in the first period.
“To be honest with you, we were all sitting on the bench there and the ceremony obviously went a little longer than we expected,” Schenn said. “Usually guys are warming up and getting ready for the game and stuff like that. Our strength and conditioning guy came in and said, ‘There’s only 20 minutes until warmups,’ so guys had to do a warmup and put on their gear in 20 minutes. Guys didn’t have a lot of time to warm up and physically prepare, mentally prepare. I think it took us a little longer to get into the game than normal. Not that that’s an excuse by any means, but it is kind of one of those things where we want to pay our respects to ‘Prongs’ and maybe it took us a little longer to get our legs underneath us.”
Ryan Johansen gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 4:05 of the first, and Forsberg scored at 15:50 to make it 2-0 on a power move around Blues defenseman Justin Faulk.
“I thought we started great,” Forsberg said. “We came out ready to play and took it to them in the first. Obviously they get two late goals in the period to make it 2-2, which obviously I didn’t think was the result it should have been, but at the same time, they’re a good team that has good players to make plays. Then in the second period, we gave them a couple odd-man rushes early on and they capitalized on two early.”
The Blues scored twice in a 1:38 span to draw even. Barbashev redirected a pass from Schenn to make it 2-1 at 16:09, and O’Reilly scored his fourth goal in four games on the power play at 17:47 to tie it 2-2.
Schenn made it 3-2 with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle 59 seconds into the second period, and Barbashev also scored from the left circle at 5:19 to make it 4-2.
The goal was Barbashev’s 15th, an NHL career high.
Yakov Trenin scored off a rebound to cut it to 4-3 at 11:33, but Schenn converted on a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Barbashev at 17:25 for the 5-3 final.
NOTES: Forsberg has scored 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in his past 10 games; he had 10 shot attempts in 20:09. …. Predators captain Roman Josi had an assist to give him 40 points in 38 games, breaking Nashville’s record for fewest games by a defenseman to reach 40 points. Josi held the record in 2019-20 when he did it in 39 games. … Predators defenseman Dante Fabbro missed the game with an upper-body injury. … Blues defenseman Colton Parayko and forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and David Perron returned after being removed from COVID-19 protocol. Parayko had an assist in a St. Louis-leading 24:06; Tarasenko played 14:15 and had an assist to extend his personal point streak to seven games (six goals, six assists); and Perron played 14:20. … It was the 14th come-from-behind win for the Blues this season, which leads the NHL. … Husso is 8-0-0 with a 1.56 goals-against average and .950 save percentage his past nine home starts dating to May 12, 2021. … Pronger’s number is the eighth retired by the Blues, joining Al MacInnis (No. 2), Bob Gassoff (No. 3), Bob Plager (No. 5), Barclay Plager (No. 8), Brian Sutter (No. 11), Brett Hull (No. 16) and Bernie Federko (No. 24).
