Filip Forsberg watched Steven Stamkos’ four-goal night against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 11 and tried to one-up him.
Though Forsberg didn’t equal Stamkos’ output, he came close, scoring his 11th career hat trick in a 5-2 win for the Nashville Predators over the Blues at Enterprise Center on Dec. 15.
“Pretty solid game. We started off well, we got a goal early that kind of gave us a little boost,” Forsberg told reporters afterward.
He scored 27 seconds in, then added a power play goal in the second period to give the Predators a 3-1 lead. He added an empty net goal to complete the hat trick and secure the win.
“Great play by (Ryan O’Reilly) on the first one,” Forsberg said. “He just found me in the slot, so I just tried to get it off in the slot. Then on the power play, we were working them for almost two minutes, then finally . . . it was just time (to shoot). That one snuck in.”
Forsberg now has 14 goals to lead the Predators (13-15-4, 30 points) thanks to another dominant performance against the Blues. In 44 games, he has 25 goals and 25 assists against St. Louis, more than any other opponent. It was also his second career hat trick against the Blues, the previous one on Feb. 27, 2016 in a 5-0 win.
Nashville has won seven of its past 10 games, but remains in eighth place in the Central Division, one point behind St. Louis. Despite this, Forsberg believes the team is playing their best hockey, especially on offense.
“We’re breaking out pretty well. Earlier in the season, I thought we got stuck in our own zone a little too much. Breakouts have been better, so we spend less time in our own zone. That’s helping our team somewhat,” he said.
The Predators’ offense has been better of late — they’ve averaged 4.0 goals in their past 10 games, up from 2.36 goals in their first 22 games.
Next up, the Predators host the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 17 (7 p.m. CT, FanDuel Sports Network) at Bridgestone Arena.
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.