^[1]Nashville, TN – The Nashville Predators ^[2], fresh off their first win of the season against Minnesota, come to St. Louis, seeking revenge over the Blues Thursday night.  This is the second time in four days the two teams have faced off, with St. Louis winning on Monday night in an exciting 4-3 shoot-out victory.

Four of the last six games between Nashville and St. Louis have gone to a shootout, and dating back to 2005-06 when the shootout was implemented, Nashville has gone to a shootout with the Blues 13 times, more than any other team (8-5 record).  Despite the loss, Nashville is 4-1-2 against the Blues since the beginning of last season, and 41-29-12 all-time in the series.While the Predators play Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets five times in 2012-13, they only meet St. Louis and Detroit Red Wings four times; the Predators will circle back through the Gateway to the West in the final game of this seven-game road trip (February 5th), and the final meeting is set for April 9th in Nashville.

The Predators are coming off a 3-1 win over former teammate Ryan Suter and the Minnesota Wild, Tuesday night.  Nashville has now beat Minnesota in four straight games for the first time in franchise history.

Nick Spaling opened the scoring for Nashville with his first goal of the season. He has posted five goals in nine career games against the Wild. Spaling also added an assist on David Legwand’s power play goal for his first multiple-point game since October 27th, 2011 (1g-1a vs. Tampa Bay).

Martin Erat notched the 161st goal of his career.  He ranks second on Nashville’s all-time goals and points list (161g-303a-464pts).  Erat also led all Nashville skaters with five shots on goal.  Legwand (1g), Kevin Klein (1a) and Brandon Yip (1a) all posted their first points of the 2012-13 season.

Shea Weber paced all skaters with 27:30 of ice time.  Nashville’s captain ranks fifth in the League in the category this season (27:10).  Mike Fisher recorded five blocks on the night and now leads all League forwards in the category.

Goaltender Chris Mason made his season debut on Tuesday night against Minnesota, picking up his first win in a Predators sweater since April 1st, 2008 – a 4-3 overtime win against St. Louis. The 2012-13 season is Mason’s third stint with the club after being acquired via trade in 1998 and through waivers in 2003.

Patric Hornqvist paced the Predators offense in Monday’s game with St Louis, his ninth career three-point performance (1g-2a), while Mike Fisher (1g-1a) and Martin Erat (2a) also had multi-point efforts.

Also of note, Scott Hannan finished the night with seven blocked shots – the same total as the entire St. Louis Blues lineup, and Pekka Rinne stopped 36 shots. Nashville has not lost in regulation when Rinne makes 35 saves or more in a game since December 26th, 2010 – he went 14-0-2 in 2011-12, was 8-0-0 in 2010-11, and won the last three games of 2009-10 when he hit the 35-save plateau.

^[5]Hornqvist now has 13 points (5g-8a) in 18 career games against St. Louis… David Legwand has played 67 career games against the Blues – more than any Predator player against any opponent all-time – posting 33 points (11g-22a)… Erat has six points (2g-4a) in his last five games against the Blues.

For their careers, Pekka Rinne (12-6-4 record) and Chris Mason (13-4-2 record) have combined to post a 25-10-6 record against St. Louis, with Rinne putting up a 1.94 goals-against average and a .933 goals-against average while Mason possesses a 2.05 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.

The Nashville Predators next home game will be February 7th at the Bridgestone Arena against the Los Angeles Kings.  For more information visit www.nashvillepredators.com ^[6].