The Nashville Predators returned from the Christmas break with a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night at Enterprise Center. The result ends a three-game win streak for the Preds and gives Nashville its first loss to St. Louis in three tries this month.

Tyson Jost and Fedor Svechkov scored for the Predators, and Nashville had a late push after outshooting the Blues all night, but it was unable to find the equalizer before the final horn.

“Definitely stings not coming up with two points there, but we dug deep and definitely crawled back into it,” Jost said. “It’s just tough when you get down like that, especially when you’re on the road, but we’ve been really pretty good here, so we’ve got to learn from it, and then [get better] in our next game.”

“I think it was probably your biggest worry coming in – some guys still on Christmas break, and [I don’t] think we had everybody’s paddle in full tilt here a little bit tonight,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “I thought we eased into the game, thought we got going in different stretches, and we made some mental mistakes off the rush that killed us.”

After St. Louis got the game’s first goal on the power play, Jost evened the score as he redirected a Nicolas Hague point shot past Joel Hofer midway through the first period. However, the Blues regained the lead before the opening period was out, and that 2-1 count held until the final frame where Pavel Buchnevich recorded his second of the night to put St. Louis up by two.

Svechkov brought the Preds back to within one when he finished off a beautiful shorthanded pass from Erik Haula and potted his second of the season, but Nashville was unable to solve Hofer again as the Blues earned two points in the standings.

From here, a crucial road trip continues with five more games for Nashville to get back to what made them successful before the break, and it’ll look to get back into the win column when they face the Mammoth on Monday night.

“We know this is a huge road trip,” Jost said. “A lot of teams that we’re playing, we’re fighting for playoff spots with, and we’re crawling back in it. So, these are massive games. It’s a playoff mentality from here on out, and kind of has been for us ever since we went through that tough stretch, so we’ve got to keep the mentality up and keep pushing… You want to be playing that hockey that really matters.”

“Grab this one, digest it, not happy about it, then you’ve got to move forward,” Brunette said. “That’s all we can do. Put yourself in a really good position. It’s a little disappointing to start the game like we did tonight, so we’ve got to be better. We know it. It’s going to get harder as this trip goes on.”

Notes:

Prior to Saturday’s game, the Preds activated defenseman Justin Barron from Injured Reserve, but he was a healthy scratch against the Blues. Winger Jonathan Marchessault did not play and remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

Nashville’s six-game road trip continues, and the Predators will now head to Utah to face the Mammoth on Monday night before a New Year’s Eve afternoon tilt in Vegas to close out the 2025 calendar.