GAME DAY: Preds at Blues, December 27

The holiday break has concluded, and the Nashville Predators will be back on the ice tonight in St. Louis against the Blues for a 7 p.m. puck drop at Enterprise Center. This evening’s contest is the first of four meetings between the division rivals this season; the Preds and Blues will face each other three times in March.

Tonight’s outing in St. Louis marks the start of a six-game stretch away from Nashville for the Predators, and they’ll be looking to continue their strong play that led to a 3-0-1 mark during their homestand that led into the holiday break.

“I thought our fans have deserved better than our start, and it was on us to be a tough team to beat at home,” Preds forward Jonathan Marchessault said Monday following Nashville’s victory over Carolina. “We want to be that, and we've showed that we are that right now, and obviously keep building. Definitely excited to get on the road and start being a tough team on the road as well.”

Prior to Monday’s game, the Preds placed forward Cole Smith on Injured Reserve and announced he’ll miss the next 4-6 weeks with a lower-body injury. With the holiday break from Dec. 24-26, the Predators have not skated since Monday’s contest. Nashville is set to fly to Missouri today and hold a morning skate in St. Louis ahead of tonight’s matchup with the Blues.

Last Time Out:

Marchessault tallied twice in Nashville’s 5-2 win over the Hurricanes on Monday night. Steven Stamkos, Ryan O’Reilly and Mark Jankowski also found twine in the victory, Filip Forsberg recorded three assists and Juuse Saros made 25 saves on the night.

Defenseman Justin Barron made his Predators debut on Monday after being acquired last week from Montreal and recorded three hits and two blocked shots in 13:03 of ice time.

Per NHL Public Relations, Filip Forsberg (3a) recorded his seventh career three-assist contest and franchise-record 45th three-point performance. Forsberg became the first player in Predators history to record multiple points in at least four straight home games.

Per NHL PR, Steven Stamkos scored his first career goal on Dustin Tokarski (2 GP). Stamkos has scored at least one regular-season goal on 149 different goaltenders and tied Joe Thornton and Steve Yzerman for the 16th-highest total in NHL history – the only other active players with as many are Alex Ovechkin (178; tied for first) as well as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (both 150; tied for 14th).

Stamkos also scored his 565th career goal to pass Joe Nieuwendyk and Mats Sundin (both with 564) for 25th place on the NHL’s all-time list.

The Good Guys:

Forsberg (9g-20a) leads the Preds in scoring with 29 points, followed by Marchessault (12g-12a) and Roman Josi (7g-17a) with 24 points apiece. Stamkos (10g-10a) and O’Reilly (8g-12a) each have 20 points on the season. Saros is 8-14-6 in net for Nashville; Justus Annunen is 8-5-0 overall.

The Opposition:

The Blues went into the holiday break with a 4-0 victory over Detroit to snap a three-game skid. Jordan Kyrou (14g-15a) leads St. Louis with 29 points, followed by Robert Thomas (6g-20a) with 26 points and Pavel Buchnevich (9g-14a) with 23 points. Dylan Holloway has 13 goals and 22 points, while netminder Jordan Binnington is 9-13-3 on the season.

All-Time Meetings:

The Predators are 64-48-(4)-13 all-time against the Blues, including a 29-29-(1)-6 record on the road.

Nashville swept the season series in 2023-24, 4-0-0, outscoring St. Louis, 19-8.

The Predators are 4-1-0 in their last five games against the Blues; they are 5-4-1 in their last 10; and 3-2-0 in their last five at home.

Nashville has won 17 of its last 27 games against St. Louis – including 15 of its last 24 – and has scored at least four goals in 13 of those wins.

Nashville held St. Louis shotless in the third period on Feb. 16, 2008 at Bridgestone Arena; it was the first in franchise history the team allowed zero shots on goal in a single period.

Notables Versus St. Louis:

Jonathan Marchessault has 20 points (13g-7a) in 25 career games against the Blues. He has found the scoresheet in his past four games against the Blues (3g-1a), including an overtime game-winning goal in his last contest against St. Louis on March 25, 2024 (as a member of Vegas).

Steven Stamkos has recorded 19 points (7g-12a) in 20 career games against the Blues. He has eight points (1g-7a) in his last seven games against St. Louis.

Roman Josi has 30 points (7g-23a) in 50 career meetings with the Blues.

Filip Forsberg has produced at a point-per-game rate against St. Louis in his career, recording 20 goals and 23 assists in 38 meetings with Nashville’s Central Division rival.

Ryan O’Reilly spent five seasons with the Blues, serving as team captain and winning the Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe and Selke Trophy in 2019. He recorded 269 points (97g-172a) in 327 games with St. Louis from 2018-23.

Luke Schenn’s brother, Brayden, currently serves as St. Louis’ captain.

Milestone Watch:

Filip Forsberg is three power-play goals (78) from passing Shea Weber (80) for the most in Predators history and is four goals from 300 in his NHL career.

The Predators franchise is three wins from 1,000.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for tonight’s game begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and analyst Chris Mason will have the call on the television side. The game will also be simulcast on NewsChannel 5 (CBS) in the Nashville viewing market.

Max Herz and Hal Gill will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on El Jefe which airs on 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM and 810 AM. (El partido también se transmite en español por El Jefe en 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM y 810 AM.)