Blues top Predators in Simmonds' debut

ST. LOUIS --Jordan Binnington made 19 saves for the St. Louis Blues in a 2-0 win against the Nashville Predators at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Binnington, who has five shutouts and is 15-2-1 in 18 starts this season, is the fourth goalie in NHL history to win in each of his first seven regular-season home starts. He joins Frank McCool of the Toronto Maple Leafs (8-0-0, 1944-45), Ken Dryden of the Montreal Canadiens (8-0-0, 1970-71) and Wayne Thomas of the Canadiens from (7-0-0, 1972-73).
"We were good tonight right off the bat, hot start," said Binnington, whose five shutouts are the most by a rookie in Blues history. "A couple chances didn't go our way, we didn't get it home, but we stayed with it the whole game and finally in the end there, Tyler Bozak] put one home. So yeah, it was a good finish for us."
[WATCH: [All Predators vs. Blues highlights]
Alex Pietrangelo had a goal and an assist, and Bozak scored for St. Louis (34-23-6), which is 13-1-1 in its past 15 games and is six points ahead of the Minnesota Wild for third place in the Central Division.
St. Louis went 12-1-1 in February, which tied its record for most victories in a calendar month (12-3-0 in April 2013).
"There was enough confidence here with the (11-game) winning streak," Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko said. "It's more about we try to chase (teams) in the standings."

Juuse Saros made 42 saves for Nashville (37-24-5), which had won three of its past four games and remains one point ahead of the Winnipeg Jets for first place in the Central Division.
"Maybe we could have at least gotten a point or something, but yeah, it's a tough way to lose," Saros said.
Bozak gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 12:35 of the third period, scoring five-hole on Saros from the right circle six seconds after a penalty to Ryan Johansen had expired.
"We worked hard getting pucks back that whole power play," Bozak said. "Obviously, [Tarasenko] made a great play to me through the seam, (and) I just tried to shoot it quick. I knew we had bodies at the net. I knew there was a chance I could score. I was hoping it [would go] in or there'd be a rebound for someone else. Luckily, it found a hole."

Pietrangelo scored into an empty net on the power play at 19:56 to make it 2-0.
Wayne Simmonds made his Predators debut after he was acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers for forward Ryan Hartman and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft on Monday. He had two shots in 15:46 of ice time.
"I don't want to think too much about it," Simmonds said. "I just want to go out there and play. Obviously, I think I can play better than that, but just kind of getting my feet wet and getting into it. That was, I guess, baptism by fire because that was a pretty intense game."

They said it

"I thought in the first we were OK. The second and third, we just didn't generate as many chances. They were quicker than we were." -- Predators coach Peter Laviolette
"Obviously, this is my first game here, and I think we looked a little bit tired, I can't lie. Obviously, we got in late last night and playing a hard-fought game yesterday against the Edmonton Oilers and taking us to overtime (3-2 shootout win), I think you can definitely expect more when we're fresh, that's for sure."-- Predators forward Wayne Simmonds
"It shows the depth we have. I've said that from the start, the most important thing is your depth. There's going to be injuries throughout a season no matter what, no matter what team you're on. There's always going to be guys that need to step in and fill roles and everyone's been doing a really good job of that." -- Blues center Tyler Bozak on playing without injured forwards David Perron, Brayden Schenn and Alexander Steen, and defenseman Carl Gunnarsson

Need to know

Nashville was shut out for the fifth time this season and second time in three games. ... Tarasenko had an assist and has at least one point in 15 of his past 17 games (12 goals, 13 assists). He needs one assist for 200 in the NHL. … Mikael Granlund, who was acquired by the Predators in a trade with the Minnesota Wild for forward Kevin Fiala on Monday, did not play because of the birth of his child. … Binnington is the second goalie in the NHL's modern era (since 1943-44) to have at least five shutouts in his first 18 starts, joining Jacques Plante (five, 1952-54).

What's next

Predators:At the Winnipeg Jets on Friday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, FS-TN, NHL.TV)
Blues:At the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-CR, FS-MW, NHL.TV)