How the Nashville Predators' rivalry with St. Louis Blues reignited, setting up rematch
Even while the Nashville Predators' playoff hopes are dead, one of their most heated rivalries still has plenty of life.
In the Predators' 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, the two teams piled up 63 penalty minutes, including three major penalties, two misconducts and one game misconduct penalty. It equaled the most penalty minutes by both teams in a Predators game this season.
The tension began in the first period when Zach L'Heureux and Nathan Walker tussled after Walker dumped L'Heureux near the side wall. L'Heureux landed a few punches before being dumped to the ice by Walker.
Then, in the final seconds of the first period, Blues defenseman Alexey Toropchenko laid a heavy hit from behind on Jonathan Marchessault. Furious, Marchessault charged after the first Blues player he found, eventually launching himself at Philip Broberg. After the penalties were assessed, the Predators wound up with a power play to start the second period − Filip Forsberg scored during the man advantage to give Nashville their only tally of the night.
Finally, in the third period, with the Blues holding comfortably to a 3-1 lead, a scrum in front of the St. Louis net led to Michael McCarron and Walker mixing it up. Walker, who was already in hot water with the officials, was given an immediate 10-minute misconduct. McCarron was given the same.
But the worst of it happened at the 13:33 mark of the third, just seconds after McCarron and Walker were ejected.
With Robert Thomas skating up center ice, Predators defenseman Nick Blankenburg attempted an open ice check. Thomas dodged most of the hit, but Blankenburg tripped Thomas, which infuriated his teammates, thinking it was a knee-on-knee hit.
With Blankenburg lying on the ice, Blues forward Zack Bolduc delivered several hard cross-checks to Blankenburg's back. Blankenburg was given a tripping call, but Bolduc was given a five-minute major penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct, ending his night.
The Predators were unable to capitalize on the five-minute major and the Blues walked away with an easy 4-1 win − but with the way everything unfolded, the two teams are set up for an intriguing rematch this week.
The Blues travel to Bridgestone Arena for the fourth and final game between the two teams on Thursday (7 p.m. CT, FanDuel Sports Network). Likely all the main players − L'Heureux, McCarron and Marchessault for the Predators and Bolduc, Toropchenko, and Walker for the Blues − will be back on the ice.
Incidentally, it wouldn't be the first time the Predators have had a heated rematch with a Central Division rival this season.
On Jan. 18, the Predators and Minnesota Wild played a much anticipated game to settle the Wild's beef with L'Heureux, who just three weeks earlier committed a slew-foot on Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin. That night, L'Heureux fought with Yakov Trenin in the first two minutes, soon joined by bouts between Marcus Foligno and Luke Schenn and then Ryan Hartman and Mark Jankowski.
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.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How the Predators' rivalry with Blues reignited, setting up rematch
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