Blues beat Predators for 3rd time this season, 4-3 in OT

The New York Rangers will be well rested and coming off a rare December victory when they begin a three-game road trip against the Nashville Predators on Monday night.

The Preds led in shots on goal, 7-0, five minutes in and later 9-1 before settling for a 15-6 edge after the first period.

Nashville Predators center Filip Forsberg (9) is defended by New York Rangers’ Derek Stepan (21) and Jesper Fast (19) in the second period of an NHL hockey game Monday, Dec. 28, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn.

After Nashville’s game-sealing sequence, NY made cosmetic changes to the final score as left winger Rick Nash and center J.T. Miller collected their 11th and eighth goals, respectively, in a 2:42 span. They’ve also been prone to goal-scoring lapses, struggling to even put one or two in the net. With a 4-4-2 record over their last 10 games, the Predators find themselves in a similar situation to the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist could hardly do anything when Ryan Ellis scored on a power-play rifle – the result of a bad hooking penalty on Moore – and then less than two minutes later with James Neal’s second of the night to make it 5-1. Forsberg initiated scoring at 18:56 of the first period with his third goal in two games.

Girardi returned to the Rangers lineup after missing five games with a small crack in his right kneecap. Center Mike Ribeiro set Neal up with a pass from the left wing.

The Predators continued to keep the pressure on and got their third goal when Smith tipped in a shot by Josi at 7:34.

It was not until 5:04 was left in the second that the Rangers got their first power play, but they could not cash in despite a couple of chances, including one by Nash, who was active all night. Lundqvist protested that Smith played the puck with his stick above the crossbar, but replay upheld the officials’ call. When it was 5-1, I thought it was time to give him a break.

Lundqvist was relieved by Antti Raanta following Neal’s second goal.

After dropping six of their previous seven, besting the Ducks was a huge key to getting things back on the right track and a matter of ideal timing as the team headed into the Christmas break.

The Rangers have allowed five goals or more in six of their last eight games.

The first period belonged to the Predators, who outshot the Rangers, 15-6, and held the play for nearly all of the opening 20 minutes. Nashville C Mike Fisher played his first game since sustaining a lower-body injury December 1.