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Photos: STL 3, NSH 0
Video: Game Highlights
Video: Trotz post-game
Video: Dumont post-game
Statistics: Game Summary
Tickets: Preds vs. Hawks - 11/13

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves for his second shutout of the season and 11th overall, and the St. Louis Blues beat Nashville 3-0 on Thursday night, handing the Predators their first regulation loss of the season.

Alexander Steen, Patrik Berglund and Matt D'Agostini scored.

Nashville has lost four straight at home, dropping the first three in overtime.

Steen opened the scoring with a short-handed goal with 7:04 left in the second period. David Perron skated from behind the net and hit Steen with pass. Steen scored on a wrist shot from in front of the crease, beating Pekka Rinne to his stick side. It was Steen's first goal of the season.

With 7:12 remaining in the game, Berglund scored off of a rebound that bounced off of Rinne's pads and into the slot.

Nashville's Jordin Tootoo was given a major penalty for charging and a game misconduct with 6:49 left to play in the third period.

D'Agostini scored on the power play with 4:45 left, beating Rinne from close range.

NOTES: The Predators had been perfect on the penalty kill the previous four games. ... Tyson Strachan played his second game for the Blues this season, replacing Roman Polak. Polak had surgery on his wrist earlier in the day. He's sidelined indefinitely.

POST-GAME QUOTES:
Head Coach Barry Trotz
On St. Louis’ play…
I think they did a really good job. They’re Number One in the league (in defense). It’s just a little taste of what the Central Division is all about. They play a really good team game. They have the lowest goals against and I think they give you the least amount of shots in the league. We had some chances early – Hornqvist with a breakaway, JP in front. We also had some chances on the power play late in the second period. We had some good saves; we had some good blocks; we missed the net a couple times. Essentially, it was a one goal game for the most part. They scored late and then we got the penalty late in the game, so it just shortened the game.

On the play of Jaroslav Halak…
He’s a good goaltender, just as Peks (Pekka Rinne) is. Number one, you just want to get pucks there and traffic. You want to create some uneasiness for the goaltender and they do a good job of limiting you. They do a good job in the neutral zone. I think that’s the key to their game. It’s not necessarily in the D zone – they do a good job – but I think it starts in the neutral zone. They do a really good job of tracking back; they squeeze you and force you to play a trip and run game – as most teams do.

On Jordin Tootoo’s hit that ejected him from the game…
I looked at it. Jordin didn’t move his feet at all from the top of the circles in. The big emphasis is on shots to the head and I saw a shoulder-to-shoulder check. To me, he didn’t leave his feet, so I’m a little bit confused on that. Before I comment more, I’ll probably have to hear from the league. To me, looking at the factors, I didn’t see anything. I thought it was a fairly clean hit.

On getting an explanation as to why Tootoo was ejected…
You don’t really get a real great one. I did not get a great one. I had the advantage of looking at it (on tape after the game) and it looked pretty good to me. It went quickly and we had a chance of slowing it down; they don’t get that luxury. The league will look at it and hopefully they’ll give me a real defined explanation. I know they will.


Forward Steve Sullivan
On keeping their heads up after their first regulation loss…
It’s just the beauty of the game of hockey. The beauty of the game is that maybe the next night or two nights after you get to go out again and redeem yourself. It’s a report card every other night and this might have been a C- but hopefully we’ll get back to the A+ on Saturday night.

On getting their first regulation loss…
I think that streaks are a lot more for the media and they create good headlines. I think in the dressing room we are a little bit more aware of how we are playing. Some nights we don’t really play well enough to win.


Goaltender Pekka Rinne
On getting their first regulation loss…
It’s obviously disappointing, but we’ve got to bounce back. [St. Louis] executed tonight but we had some chances early on and we didn’t score. I think that took some of the momentum of the game and they came back and scored a couple of goals. It’s obviously a disappointing loss.


Captain Shea Weber
On what the team needs to do to improve after tonight’s loss…
We’ve got to play better as a 5-man unit. We had a couple of chances early but we didn’t have much after that. Pekka made some good saves but I do think we had some good chances.

On St. Louis’ defense…
They are really good team. They came in here last time and we jumped on them early but they outplayed us after that. We knew they were a good unit and we just need to play better as a team.