ST. LOUIS — Matt Duchene scored at 2:01 of overtime to give the Nashville Predators a 4-3 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Thursday.
Duchene had two goals and an assist, Luke Kunin had a goal and an assist and Mikael Granlund had four assists for the Predators (8-5-1), who are 7-1-1 in their past nine games. David Rittich made 33 saves in his Nashville debut.
“It’s great. Nothing bothers us,” Duchene said. “We were down 2-0 after the first. They were taking it to us and dominating the game really. We don’t ever get too low or too high. We have fun playing. It’s a very different vibe now. We keep our heads down and stay tight.”
Jordan Kyrou scored twice, and Jordan Binnington made 23 saves for the Blues (8-2-2), who lost for the first time after leading by multiple goals this season.
“They’re coming off a back-to-back, or this is a back-to-back for them,” Kyrou said of the Predators. “Obviously they’re a little juiced and we really didn’t take advantage of that.
“I think in the first period, we kind of dictated the play of the game. We were forechecking hard, we were all over the puck making plays. I think the second period, we kind of let off the gas a little bit. We gave them some leeway and they scored those two goals.”
Duchene took a pass from Granlund and beat Binnington with a one-timer to the short side from the right circle for the Predators.
“I was able to read off [Granlund] and score,” Duchene said. “He’s playing great.”
Granlund said, “I saw their guy and he was wanting to step on me. I went around him and I got the puck to Matt and he shoots it in.”
Granlund was able to skate past Blues forward David Perron, creating a 2-on-1 against Blues defenseman Colton Parayko.
“I don’t like the ‘D’ sliding on that play,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “I think we just give the outside shot up and take away the weakside of the ice. And David’s got to make sure he gets in front of his guy.”
Yakov Trenin scored his first of the season at 4:01 of the third period to give the Predators a 3-2 lead after they had trailed 2-0, but Vladimir Tarasenko tied it 3-3 when he scored for St. Louis from a sharp angle at 8:13.
Kyrou scored at 12:23 of the first to make it 1-0 Blues, a wrist shot in tight off a feed from Tyler Bozak. Kyrou made it 2-0 at 16:47, a power-play goal from the right circle with a wrist shot high, short side on Rittich, who was screened by defenseman Mark Borowiecki.
“Yeah, I think we had a good start,” said Blues center Robert Thomas, who had two assists. “We were up 2-0 and just loosened up a little bit in the second period there and let them right back into it. But I think we battled back good at the end of that period and responded well after their third goal. But just not good enough for 60 minutes.”
Despite being outshot 12-8 in the second, the Predators tied the game when Duchene scored 17 seconds in to make it 2-1 with a wrist shot from the slot, and Kunin’s backhand through Binnington’s pads at 7:43 tied it 2-2.
“I really liked how we played,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “Guys came in and were plugged in. We had to find ways to score. I thought we were loose. This was a really good character win. We showed mental toughness.”
NOTES: Duchene has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in his past nine games. He has one more goal than he scored in 34 games last season. … Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm played in his 600th NHL game, all with Nashville. … The Predators concluded a six-game road trip 4-1-1. … Borowiecki played 13:45 and had six hits after missing the past four games with an upper-body injury. … The Predators have won five straight against the Blues; St. Louis is 0-3-2. … Tarasenko has 31 points (15 goals, 16 assists) in 34 games against Nashville. … Thomas has 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in 10 games against the Predators.
