• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Dumont, de Vries help Predators edge Blues

Apr 4, 2008 - 5:46 AM By Jim Diamond PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- J.P. Dumont had a goal and an assist and defenseman Greg de Vries notched the decisive tally in the third period as the Nashville Predators rallied for 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

Jerred Smithson scored a shorthanded goal for the Predators (41-31-9), who won for the fifth time in six games.

Later Thursday, Nashville was guaranteed its fourth straight playoff berth when Vancouver (39-32-10) lost a 2-1 decision to the Edmonton Oilers.

Jan Hlavac collected three assists and Dan Ellis stopped 27 shots as the Predators completed a home-and-home sweep of the Blues. Nashville rallied from a three-goal deficit to post a 4-3 win at St. Louis on Tuesday.

"We were able to gain some confidence from Tuesday's game against St. Louis where we were down three early," Ellis said. "We know that if we continue to put pressure on them, we are going to give ourselves a chance to win, and that is what we did."

Jay McClement and David Backes staked the Blues to a 2-1 lead by scoring 3:47 apart in the second period.

However, Dumont tied the the game with his 29th of the season with 2:14 remaining in the second and de Vries snapped the deadlock 4:01 into the third.

Dumont one-timed a pass from Hlavac past goaltender Hannu Toivonen on the stick side.

"After I scored my goal, I told (Hlavac) thank you because a lot of guys would have shot that," Dumont said. "With that little deke, the goalie went down, he pulled the defenseman right on him and I was wide open."

"We got a big goal from Dumont off of a great play by Hlavac to get it tied up," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said.

Hlavac has three goals and 10 assists in 16 games since being acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning at the trade deadline on February 26.

"Hlavac is a high-skill guy who fits in well on our team," Trotz said.

Dumont then made a terrific play to set up de Vries for the game-winner. Dumont slid a pass to the defenseman while lying on his stomach behind the net, and de Vries beat Toivonen with a wrister from above the right faceoff circle for a 3-2 edge.

"The puck came right out to me, and I was all alone for the shot," de Vries said. "(But) we had about a 10-minute lapse there in the second period where they were better than us, and we need to work on that."

The Blues' top line of Paul Kariya, Keith Tkachuk and Brad Boyes was on the ice for all three of Nashville's goals.

"Our top line was minus-3 tonight," St. Louis coach Andy Murray said. "It is tough to win with that."

Toivonen stopped 26 shots for the Blues, who registered just seven shots in the third period.

Smithson scored the game's first goal with exactly eight minutes remaining in the first period.

Hlavac's backhand shot from the right circle was stopped by Toivonen, but the rebound popped into the air. Smithson was able to bat the puck into a vacant net for his seventh goal of the season.

McClement tied the game at 1-1 with his ninth tally at 6:27 of the second period, and Backes put the Blues in front less than four minutes later.

Andy McDonald sent a pass that was tipped past Ellis by Backes, who was skating through the low slot.

Toivonen made 27 saves for St. Louis, which fell to 3-14-4 in its last 21 games.

"We are finding ways to lose games, and we have for a while," Blues captain Eric Brewer said. "At the end of the day, we have to score more goals than they do, and we just didn't do that."