Novak, Evangelista Power Preds to 6-1 Victory Over Blues

Led by four points from Tommy Novak (1g-3a) and three from Luke Evangelista (1g-2a), the Nashville Predators cruised to a 6-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues Saturday at Bridgestone Arena.
Juuse Saros made 21 saves in goal for the Predators, who improved to 38-29-8 on the season.

THE STORY

Novak got things going early, receiving Evangelista's pass and lifting a backhander into the net to go bar down and put the Preds up 1-0 at 4:46 of the first period. Cody Glass extended Nashville's lead to 2-0 at 7:20 when he redirected Novak's shot into the net on the power play.

With Kiefer Sherwood in the penalty box for tripping against Nick Leddy, Colton Sissons snapped a wrist shot past Thomas Greiss, unassisted, to put the Preds up 3-0 at 7:36 of the second period.
Evangelista picked up a pass from Sherwood and tipped it in to score at 13:27, extending Nashville's lead to 4-0.

Sherwood scored what was initially determined to be a good goal to put the Predators up 5-0 with less than a minute remaining in the middle frame, but it was overturned after a successful coach's challenge by St. Louis on the grounds that Sherwood batted the puck into the net with a high stick.
Calle Rosen fired a shot that bounced off of Saros and into the net for the Blues' lone goal of the game at 8:36 of the third period.
Yakov Trenin took advantage of a Colton Parayko turnover and scored on his own rebound to make it 5-1 at 11:49 of the third. Philip Tomasino scored a power-play goal at 18:06 for the 6-1 final.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Too Hot Tommy
Novak, who tallied four points in the win (1g-3a), has 38 points (15g-23a) in 42 games with Nashville since being recalled from Milwaukee (AHL) on Dec. 19. In a 23-game span since Feb. 18, Novak has posted 27 points (11g-16a), including seven multi-point efforts.
Lights-Out Luke
Evangelista finished with three points of his own (1g-2a). He now has 12 points (6g-6a) in his first 17 career NHL games, scoring multiple points in three of those games. He scored his first two career NHL goals on March 6 at Vancouver and became the second rookie in Predators history to record a four-point game on March 21 at Buffalo, joining Dan Hamhuis (1g-4a on March 4, 2004 at Pittsburgh).
Shorthanded Sizzler
Sissons' second-period tally was the fourth shorthanded goal of his NHL career and Nashville's fourth of the season. Sitting at 28 points (12g-16a), Sissons is now just two shy of his career high of 30, set in 2018-19 (15g-15a).

The Birthday Boys
Glass, celebrating his 24th birthday on Saturday, scored his fifth power-play goal of the season in the first period. Glass owns 28 points (12g-16a) in his last 49 games, and he's found the scoresheet in 17 of his last 34 games (9g-11a). He has also established career highs in goals (13), assists (18) and points (31) this season.

Sherwood, who turned 28 on Friday, added a point of his own with an assist on Evangelista's goal in the second period. He now has points in seven of his last 16 games (3g-5a).
Yak Attack
Trenin's goal in the third period was his 11th of the season. He is now just two points shy of his career high of 24 (17g-7a) set last season.
(100) Games of Tommer
Tomasino added a power-play goal in his 100th career NHL game. Since making his season debut on Feb. 13 vs. Arizona, Tomasino has recorded 17 points (5g-12a) in 24 games. He has 10 points (2g-8a) in his last 12 games after tallying an assist on Sunday vs. Toronto.

Welcome to The Show
Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced prior to Saturday's game that the team had recalled defenseman Spencer Stastney from Milwaukee (AHL). Stastney, 23, has recorded 13 points (5g-8a) and a +2 rating in 56 games for the Admirals this season, his first full AHL campaign.
Stastney finished with three shots on goal and one block in 13:16 of ice time in his Preds debut. He is the fifth player to make his NHL debut with the Predators in 2022-23, joining Juuso Parssinen, Yaroslav Askarov, Evangelista and Egor Afanasyev.

THEY SAID IT

Evangelista on playing in Nashville for the first time since Monday's tragedy at the Covenant School:
"It was just a beautiful afternoon with the tribute before the game and then the way we came out and played today. That game was for Nashville. We're just trying to bring relief or a distraction any way we can, even if it's just for a couple hours. So that game was just awesome."

Ryan McDonagh on playing following Monday's tragedy:
"It's been on our minds, like everybody, since that went down. You just try to focus on your job here and try to be inspirational for the city and hopefully bring a little bit of joy and excitement and distract from the pain that everybody's feeling here. It's been quite a week and we're definitely trying to use this as motivation to bring some joy and inspiration to the city."

Head Coach John Hynes on playing following Monday's tragedy:
"I'm just really proud of the players. I think just you can see the care level that they had for these types of situations was really special… This is what you can do with sports. As we said to the players, you give the respect back to the community, respect back to the fanbase and particularly the [law enforcement] officers - fortunately they were here tonight - and it's a time for them to be able to unwind and have a good time, and that was special."

Novak on the win:
"I think getting that early lead was really big for us. We've been struggling to score goals the last little stretch here. So just to feel the puck going in and get one on the power play too is also huge. So I think it was big for us."

Sissons on Nashville's offensive production:
"I think we're hungry on the forecheck. We're turning a lot of pucks over and just sustaining some more offensive time. When you spend more time in their zone and get more pucks to the net, good things happen. It was a good example of that [today]."
Evangelista on his chemistry with Novak:
"We're just on the same page. We think the game really similar. We're both good playmakers so we're able to feed off each other and play a give-and-go kind of game. You saw it tonight - there were just some plays that we were just clicking on and we were on the same page. So he's a joy to play with."

Hynes on the effort from Nashville's young players and AHL call-ups:
"For the most part, we're giving ourselves a chance to win and winning games, and that's important. Sometimes you can have a lot of changes on your team and young players can come up but there's nothing on the line. And I think the fact that these guys are coming through more often than not, I think it's good for them in their careers. It's good for the organization. I think it's a true [evaluation] of where they're at because they're playing in some pressure situations and games that matter and against other teams that are fighting for position. So it's really good to see, and that's our goal."
Stastney on making his NHL debut:
"I was just trying to soak it all in and just have fun. This is something I've looked forward to for a while and I hoped it would come and it was just an amazing day. It was such a special night but to be with the guys and to be welcomed out there was really cool… Looking around, there are a lot of guys I played with on the Admirals earlier this year and they're all doing well here. So it definitely was nice coming in here just seeing a lot of familiar faces and a lot of guys who just welcomed me with open arms and helped me out here."

Hynes on Stastney's debut:
"I thought Spencer was really good. I was really impressed with him tonight. I thought his skating was at an NHL level. I think his puck poise, his ability to move the puck up the ice was good. I thought he was good at the offensive blue line. He defended well. He stopped right and didn't miss a beat so that's really good to see. We knew he was a good prospect and coming in and trying to develop his game in Milwaukee and things like that. He's put a lot of work in. I'd say in tonight's game he looked like an NHL player."
McDonagh on Nashville gaining ground in the Western Conference wild card race:
"We feel like we control our own destiny here. We know we've got a big one against Dallas here in a couple of days and the rest of our schedule is pretty laid out for us. There's some good opponents and good challenges and we've just got to come out and try to play winning hockey."

UP NEXT

The Preds will head to Dallas for a Central Division matchup against the Stars on Monday. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio.