Blues score seven in second, defeat Predators for ninth straight win

NASHVILLE --The St. Louis Blues set their record with seven goals in the second period of their ninth straight win, 8-3 against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Sunday.

"When everyone is playing the right way, obviously you get a lot of bounces, and obviously in the second period we got a lot of bounces going our way," St. Louis forward Jordan Kyrou said. "We've been saying it all year. We all know that we have a really deep offensive group, so it's not that surprising."
Kyrou and Brayden Schenn each scored twice, Calle Rosen had two goals and an assist, and Jordan Binnington made 33 saves for the Blues (46-20-10), who are 11-0-1 in their past 12 games and have scored at least four goals per game in that stretch, the longest in the NHL since the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins (15 games).
St. Louis is second in the Central Division, one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild, who defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-4 in overtime on Sunday and have one game in hand. The Colorado Avalanche have clinched the division title.
"I'm very happy with the team, the way they're performing," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "They are playing for each other and right now, they are doing a good job. It's all about the team. They've got to stick with that. We've got to keep pushing. We've got to move on from this game."

Nick Cousins and Luke Kunin each had a goal and an assist for the Predators (43-28-5), who are tied with the Dallas Stars for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and are four points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights. Dallas has a game in hand on Nashville and Vegas.
"I just think [the Blues are] a super-skilled team over there," Cousins said. "They make a lot of plays through the neutral zone. I just think we've got to be harder with our reloads, myself included. It just seems like every opportunity they had, they made the most of it."
Juuse Saros allowed four goals on 20 shots before being replaced midway through the second period by David Rittich, who made nine saves on 13 shots. Saros made 28 saves in a 4-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.
Cousins made it 1-0 at 4:16 of the first period, positioning himself atop the crease and one-timing Mark Borowiecki's no-look pass from behind the net.
Schenn tied it 1-1 at 17:41 with a wrist shot from the slot on the power play, and Tarasenko made it 2-1 at 1:11 of the second period to extend his goal streak to five games (eight goals).
"'Vladdy's' goal was a big goal," Berube said. "That's such a power-move goal, and what a release off it. Just the strength and the speed to get around [Nashville defenseman Alexandre Carrier down the right wing] like that."

Rosen extended the lead to 3-1 at 4:24, scoring his first goal of the season, and Kyrou made it 4-1 at 9:29 when he beat Saros high on the stick side.
The Blues then scored twice in 39 seconds.
Rosen's second goal made it 5-1 at 12:10, and Nathan Walker extended the lead to 6-1 at 12:49 from the slot.
Schenn's second goal made it 7-1 at 16:27 before Kunin cut it to 7-2 at 18:47 with his first goal in 10 games.
Kyrou's second goal of the game made it 8-2 at 19:13, and Dante Fabbro scored from the high slot at 12:09 of the third for the 8-3 final.
"I actually thought we played a good first, had a good period, had a lot of chances," Predators captain Roman Josi said. "Then in the second period, we just fell apart. We gave them so many chances, odd-man rushes everywhere. We left our goalies out to dry. We got embarrassed in the second period."
NOTES:The Blues scored six goals in a period three times (twice in 1984-85, once in 1990-91). ... Tarasenko had a goal and two assists to extend his point streak (15 points; eight goals, seven assists) to six games and set an NHL career-high in points (76 points; 33 goals, 43 assists). It was his 600th NHL game. … Blues forward Robert Thomas had an assist to extend his point streak to 13 games (25 points; six goals, 19 assists). … St. Louis forward Pavel Buchnevich, on his 27th birthday, had an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games (18 points; six goals, 12 assists). … The Predators had not allowed eight goals in a game since an 8-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on March 2, 2020. … Nashville defenseman Jeremy Lauzon is week to week with a lower-body injury he sustained Saturday. … Blues defenseman Nick Leddy did not play after taking a high stick from Wild forward Kevin Fiala on Saturday. Rosen, who replaced Leddy, had his first multipoint game in 33 NHL games. His only other NHL goal was April 1, 2019, as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. … Blues forward David Perron had an assist to extend his point streak (six points; three goals, three assists) to five games.