Pavel Buchnevich scores twice as Blues knock off Predators, 3-2

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Dec 27, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ST. LOUIS — Finally, the Blues broke through against the Predators.

The Blues beat the Predators, 3-2, on Saturday night at Enterprise Center, their first win against Nashville after two blowout losses earlier in December. Pavel Buchnevich scored twice and Brayden Schenn notched his 700th career point on a first-period goal to lead the Blues.

Joel Hofer made 28 saves to earn his third straight win.

Tyson Jose and Fedor Svechkov (shorthanded) scored for the Predators.

Earlier in December, the Blues lost 7-2 in Nashville and 5-2 in St. Louis against the Predators as Nashville began its climb up from the cellar of the Central Division.

The Blues have now alternated wins and losses in each of their last eight games, and will host the streaking Sabres on Monday night.

Buchnevich nets a pair

For the first time this season, Buchnevich scored multiple goals in the same game, first in the closing minutes of the first period to put the Blues ahead and then in the early stages of the third to extend the Blues lead.

Buchnevich's goal with 1:46 remaining in the first period came on the rush as he led in transition with Jake Neighbours. Buchnevich tried to slide a pass to Neighbours across the slot, but it was blocked by Roman Josi and caromed perfectly back to Buchnevich. Buchnevich lifted the puck over Juuse Saros, then promptly threw the monkey off his back.

The goal ended an eight-game goal drought for Buchnevich. It was his second-longest goalless streak of the season, as he had a 16-gamer earlier this fall.

Buchnevich cashed in again at 4:40 of the third period on another loose puck. Philip Broberg found Robert Thomas in the neutral zone to spring a 3 on 2 for the Blues. Thomas spotted Buchnevich in the slot and his initial shot was stopped by Saros. Buchnevich again gathered the rebound and put it over Saros.

It was Buchnevich's first multi-goal game since Game 3 against Winnipeg during the first round of the 2025 playoffs, and gave him seven goals on the season.

Successful challenge

Blues coach Jim Montgomery remained perfect in his NHL coaching career on offside challenges, improving to 14 for 14 on offside calls during his time coaching the Stars, Bruins and Blues.

Montgomery nullified Steven Stamkos' goal in the second period after video review ruled that Stamkos was completely over the blue line as the Predators dumped the puck into the zone. Hofer stopped the puck behind his net, but then turned it over to Ryan O'Reilly, who batted the puck out of the air and slid it to Stamkos with an empty net.

The goal would have tied the game at 2 with just under three minutes left in the second period. Instead, the Blues retained their one-goal lead, and Hofer avoided another goal that stemmed from one of his turnovers.

Mr. 700

Schenn scored on the power play at 8:45 to give the Blues a 1-0 lead, deflecting Cam Fowler's point shot past Saros. The Blues were on the power play after Colton Parayko drew a hooking penalty on Fedor Svechkov.

Schenn's goal was the 285th of his career to go along with 415 assists in 1,061 career games. It was his 452nd point as a Blue following his six seasons in Philadelphia and nine games with the Kings.

The Blues had prime chances in the first period before Schenn scored, including Thomas just 20 seconds into the contest. Broberg found Thomas in the slot by himself, but Saros made a glove save to prevent an early goal against.

Schenn later found Logan Mailloux 2:19 into the game in front of the net, but Mailloux skied his attempt over the crossbar and into the protective netting behind the goal.

In the second period, Jordan Kyrou had a pair of chances but missed the net once and was stopped by Saros on another shot. Kyrou was playing his first game in three weeks after missing time with a lower-body injury.