St. Louis Blues at Nashville Predators

Stamkos scores 4 goals as Predators beat Blues 7-2 for 4th win in 5 games

Filip Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly and Michael Bunting also scored for Nashville. Luke Evangelista had three assists, and Roman Josi, Matthew Wood, Nick Blankenburg and Fedor Svechkov each had two. Juuse Saros finished with 24 saves.

Robert Thomas and Hugh McGing scored for St. Louis, and Philip Broberg had two assists. Jordan Binnington had 19 saves through two periods, and Joel Hofer had six in the third.

Stamkos gave the Predators a 1-0 lead 8:22 into the game, batting the rebound of his own shot out of the air and past Binnington.

Stamkos doubled the lead with 8:41 left in the opening period, knocking in the rebound of a shot through traffic by Roman Josi.

McGing got the Blues on the scoreboard 4:17 into the second with his first NHL goal. Broberg sent a centering pass from the right corner that Robby Fabbri tapped over to McGing in the right circle, and the 27-year-old — playing in his seventh career game — put it past Saros for his first point.

O'Reilly restored Nashville's two-goal lead at 8:38 with a shot from the inside edge of the left circle for his 10th of the season.

Forsberg pushed the lead to 4-1 with 8:17 left in the second. After a backhand deke he lifted a forehand shot over Binnington's left pad for his 11th.

Stamkos made it 5-1 just 23 seconds later with his 15th career hat trick as his pass for Matthew Wood deflected off Blues defenseman Justin Faulk and past Binnington.

Thomas pulled the Blues within three with 6:04 left in the second, but Stamkos capped off his big night with his 12th of the season about 90 seconds later with a backhander past Binnington. It was Stamkos' second career four-goal game, first since Dec. 14, 2023, at Edmonton while playing for Tampa Bay.

Bunting capped the scoring with a power-play goal at 7:36 of the third.

Up next Blues: Host Chicago on Friday night.

Predators: At Colorado on Saturday night.

NSH leads series 1-0