Nashville has a chance to respond in Game 3 of the best-of-7 series at Bridgestone Arena on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; NBC, TVA Sports, SN).
"I don't think we expected to win 16 games straight and walk to a Stanley Cup," said Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis, who had a goal and an assist. "We were bound to lose a game. Obviously I thought we played a decent game, but we probably didn't deserve to win that one and obviously didn't win that one, so regroup, refocus and learn from our mistakes. Come back stronger next game and be better."
\[RELATED: Complete Blues vs. Predators series coverage\]
The Predators led 1-0 and 2-1, but the Blues scored twice in the third period, including the game-winner by Vladimir Tarasenko with 3:51 remaining.
Although Nashville won Game 1 4-3 on Wednesday, they weren't happy with their play at even strength. Following Game 2, they said there is room for improvement.
"There's no time to be frustrated or whatever," Predators forward Ryan Johansen said. "We've got a great hockey club here, and we feel like we didn't play very well in St. Louis for the most part. We had some spurts where we did good things, but we've got a whole other level we can get to."
The Predators had 23 penalty minutes in Game 2, including 15 by Vernon Fiddler after he was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing Blues defenseman Colton Parayko in the first period. Tarasenko scored a goal on the power-play to tie the game 1-1.