Tarasenko leads Blues past Preds to even series

The St. Louis Blues evened its National Hockey League Central Division Final series with the Nashville Predators thanks to a late goal from the team’s go-to leader, Vladimir Tarasenko on Friday (April 28, 2017).

The Russian forward’s goal with 3:51 to play in the contest snapped a 2-2 tie and lifted the Blues to an important 3-2 win for a split in the two series opening games played at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

The goal was Tarasenko’s second of the night and completed a rally as the Predators held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the contest.

James Neal had the visitors in front 7:49 into the contest before Tarasenko sent them to the locker room even with his goal 20 seconds from the end of the first period. Following it a scoreless middle frame, Ryan Ellis put the Preds into a lead again 3:07 into the final 20.

Jori Lehtera’s goal about four minutes later pulled the home team even again and set the stage for Tarasenko’s game winner. Six different Blues players collected assists in the game.

Jake Allen turned aside 22 of 24 shots to collect the win in goal for the Blues while Pekka Rinne stopped 17 shots in goal for the Preds.

The series will shift to Nashville for the next two, beginning on Sunday (April 30).