Predators vs. Blues: Filip Forsberg Finally Scores as a Third-Period Surge Sinks St. Louis 5-2

Filip Forsberg is the Nashville Predators' career leader in goals and a three-time 40-goal scorer. So watching him open this season with a blank in the goal column felt like a glitch in the Matrix.

The glitch got patched on Saturday night. Forsberg scored on a wraparound, set up another goal, and the Predators shook off two shaky periods to beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 in front of 17,159, snapping a three-game skid.

A Penalty Shot, a Wraparound and a Wild First

St. Louis came out like a team with a plan. At 6:21, Philip Broberg cruised through the slot untouched, took a feed from Mason McTavish and beat Juuse Saros high on the glove side for his first goal of the season. The helper pushed McTavish's point streak to six games, with four goals and four assists in that run.

Then things got weird. Nashville was already on a power play after Adam Jiricek's tripping call when Jordan Binnington was ruled to have thrown his stick, which drew a penalty shot. Jonathan Marchessault went five-hole with a wrist shot at 8:40 to tie it, and he has now converted three of five regular-season penalty shots in his career.

Even he did not see the call coming. "I thought it was going to be a 5-on-3, but I'm happy about it and for it to be me to go," Marchessault said.

Forsberg's moment arrived at 12:22. Steven Stamkos missed on a backhand, the puck sat there like an unclaimed bag on a carousel, and Forsberg scooped it up and wrapped it around the left post, past Binnington's right skate, for a 2-1 lead.

The 31-Second Swing

The second period served up the strangest stretch of the night. Vitali Pinchuk went to the box for tripping at 5:58, and the Nashville penalty kill decided to play offense. Roman Josi carried the puck into the St. Louis zone, feathered a pass between two Blues, and Adam Edstrom tipped it past Binnington at 7:05. That was Edstrom's second short-handed goal in three games, which is a pretty good side hustle for a penalty killer.

The Blues needed exactly 31 seconds to punch back on the same man advantage. Jake Neighbours slid a backdoor pass to Jimmy Snuggerud at the side of the net, and Snuggerud finished it at 7:36 to make it 3-2.

"Shorty goals from the other team aren't really nice," Snuggerud said. "It can bring a bench down, but I thought we turned it around quickly."

St. Louis had a case through 40 minutes. The Blues finished with a 26-24 edge in shots, and Snuggerud said everyone in the room believed they were the better team for two periods. Even Nashville coach Andrew Brunette admitted the start was not the blueprint. "The process early on wasn't towards the game plan," he said, before describing the Blues as "the fastest starting team in the League in the first period."

The Turning Point: Nashville Owns the Third

The whole night came down to who would grab the third period. Nashville grabbed it within 8:14.

Ryan O'Reilly struck 2:50 in, crashing the net after his own shot and burying the rebound on his backhand for a 4-2 cushion, with Stamkos and Forsberg drawing the assists. Then at 8:14, Josi sent the puck across from the left side and it caromed off Jack Drury's skate at the back post and in. Ugly? Sure. Drury will frame it anyway. It was his first goal as a Predator, coming in his eighth game with the team after Nashville acquired him from the Colorado Avalanche on June 24.

"The third period we got to our game, started playing more simple with the puck," Forsberg said.

"I really liked our third period. That's what good teams do in the third period even though the first two weren't great," Brunette said.

Across the hall, Blues coach Jim Montgomery saw the same 20 minutes in reverse. "The third period's the period that cost us," he said.

Who Stood Out

Filip Forsberg: A goal, an assist and a plus-2 in 19:14, plus the end of the drought. He also continues to treat St. Louis like a personal piggy bank: NHL.com noted he has 54 points (27 goals, 27 assists) in 47 career games against the Blues, including eight points in his past five meetings. "It's going to go in at some point," he said. Saturday was that point.

Adam Wilsby: The quiet engine of the night. Three assists, a plus-4 and 22:06 of ice time, with a hand in Forsberg's goal, Edstrom's short-handed strike and Drury's dagger.

Roman Josi: The captain set up two goals, including the short-handed one, and logged 24:36 with a plus-4.

Juuse Saros: 24 saves on 26 shots for a .923 night. Brunette pointed out that "'Juice' made some big saves" while the Predators were weathering the early push.

Stats That Matter

• 20-4: Nashville's edge in blocked shots. The Predators got in front of nearly everything the Blues threw.
• 1 for 5: St. Louis on the power play, including the advantage that coughed up Edstrom's short-handed goal.
• 3: Assists for Wilsby, the most by anyone on either side.
• 19 of 24: Binnington's saves, a .792 night that will not make his highlight package.

What It Means

Nashville climbs to 3-2-3 with nine points, ends a three-game skid in which it went 0-1-2 and wraps a three-game homestand at 1-1-1. The Predators are now 2-2-1 at home, and Brunette was happy to get some breathing room before a tough stretch on the road. "We've got a few days to breathe a little bit and get back to work," he said. Next up is a Thursday visit to Boston.

St. Louis drops to 3-4-1 with seven points and has lost two straight, both on a three-game trip that started with a rout in Ottawa and continued with a 5-4 loss in Minnesota on Thursday. The Blues are 2-4-0 on the road. Montgomery's fix was about patience and play without the puck. "We need to be smarter and more mature that way," he said, after pointing to the odd-man rushes his team allowed. The Blues host Winnipeg on Tuesday.

Closing Take

For two periods, this was a Blues game. Then Nashville did what veteran teams are supposed to do: simplified, stopped feeding the opponent turnovers and let its stars cash in. Forsberg's first goal of the season felt less like a breakthrough than a reminder, the way a band that opens with a deep cut eventually gets around to the hits. The Predators saved theirs for the third.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.