It was a rude welcome back to the NHL for legendary goaltender Martin Brodeur as the Nashville Predators took a 4-3 victory in front of a raucous, sold out Bridgestone Arena. Once again, the Predators got off to a slow start, looking like they were the team that played the previous night before traveling instead of St. Louis. Turnovers, sloppy play and general lethargy lead to the first St. Louis goal.

And oh… by the way… this just in… Vladimir Tarasenko is good. Scary good. He scored the first two goals for the Blues, the first one on a give-and-go play that was exactly how you draw it up in the textbook. Speed, hands, lethal accuracy and dangerous every time he touches the puck, Tarasenko is the genuine article.

You had to love the basketball style timeout taken less than six minutes into the game by Predators head coach Peter Laviolette as he flat out didn’t like what he saw from his team. The reboot was successful as the Predators showed up to play for the rest of the game, and it only took about eight minutes to tie it up from the other young player lighting up the NHL this year, Preds sensation, Filip Forsberg buried a rebound from Mike Ribeiro’s initial shot to knot the game at one. Ribeiro wasn’t done in the first period as he set up Eric Nystrom’s last minute one-timer that gave Nashville the lead heading into the locker room.

The momentum continued into the second period as the Nine Line struck again, with Forsberg and James Neal setting up Ribeiro and pushing the Preds out to the most dangerous lead in hockey. That two-goal lead was short lived as Tarasenko struck again, this one was a laser strike right off a face-off win that brought the Blues back to within one.

If you point at one thing the Predators did really well last night… it was creating turnovers. Each goal (and quite a few other scoring chances) were the result of turnovers, created by aggressive forechecking across all four lines. It is becoming a hallmark of this team and a key to their five-on-five success.

The Predators have one more at home before heading out on the road for six of the next seven games, but boy that game will be a doozy. The Chicago Blackhawks hit Smashville for a Saturday night Central Division showdown. The Blackhawks, just off a win over St. Louis, play at home tonight against Montreal before coming to town.

Here are your highlights from nhl.com…


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Random Notes

- 25 games in and the Predators still have not lost back-to-back games.

- Interesting that the odds on the Preds potential to win a Cup (according to Bovada) is now at 22/1… tied with the Rangers and the Red Wings. Thirteen teams have better odds.

- A buzz broke around the rink last night when the Oilers announced their press conference today.

- Congratulations to Brian Rafalski on being named to the US Hockey Hall of Fame

- Nice retirement ceremony for Daniel Alfredsson last night in Ottawa.

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