Steven Stamkos scores four goals as Predators stomp Blues, 7-2

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Dec 11, 2025

Published in Hockey

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Thursday was supposed to be a reprieve.

There aren't many teams below the Blues in the standings, and Thursday's matchup in Nashville offered St. Louis a crack at one of them. Instead, the Predators took advantage of facing a downtrodden Blues team, and handed St. Louis a 7-2 loss.

Steven Stamkos scored four goals for the Predators, who also got goals from Ryan O'Reilly, Filip Forsberg and Michael Bunting. Robert Thomas and Hugh McGing scored for the Blues, as Jordan Binnington allowed six goals.

Nashville entered the night with the third-worst points percentage in the league (.448), and the Blues (.468) were only slightly ahead of it.

The Blues will finish their back-to-back on Friday night at home against Chicago.

The Stamkos Show

For the second time in his career, Stamkos scored four goals on Thursday night. He became the first player to score at least four goals against the Blues since Patrik Laine scored five for the Jets in Nov. 2018.

Stamkos scored twice in the first period to help build a 2-0 lead for Nashville, and then his goal at 12:06 of the second period gave the Predators a 5-1 lead and set off the cascade of hats at Bridgestone Arena. He added his fourth goal at 15:33 of the second period to make it 6-2.

Thursday was the 15th time in his career that Stamkos has scored at least three goals, and the second time as a Predator.

Stamkos' first two goals were scored in similar fashions, both on rebounds at the net-front.

After McGing whiffed on a shot attempt, Stamkos and Matthew Wood led a 2 on 1 for the Predators. Binnington made the initial save on Stamkos, but Stamkos batted the rebound into the back of the net. Less than three minutes later, Stamkos struck again after Wood won a board battle following a Blues icing. The puck found Roman Josi at the blue line, and Stamkos jumped on a rebound of Josi's shot.

Stamkos' third goal of the game was a somewhat fortunate bounce on a pass directed towards the net that deflected off Justin Faulk's skate and into the Blues net. Stamkos added his fourth when he boxed out Dalibor Dvorsky at the net-front and put home a loose puck.

Another blowout

Thursday's result has become a familiar instance for Blues fans this season, as it was the 11th loss of the season by at least three goals. No team in the NHL has lost more games by three-plus goals than the Blues.

Thursday was the Blues' 14th regulation loss of the season, and 11 have been non-competitive. Of course, the Blues also have seven overtime or shootout losses this season.

St. Louis entered the game with a league-worst minus-30 goal margin, and that stretched to minus-35 with the loss in Nashville. Across an entire season, the Blues have had a minus-35 goal margin in just nine of their seasons in franchise history and only three times in the last 45 years.

Binnington allowed six goals in the first two periods before he was replaced in the third period by Joel Hofer. It was the third time this season that Binnington was pulled and the second time in December.

McGing gets first

McGing scored his first career NHL goal during the second period, a tally that brought the Blues within 2-1 before Nashville blew the game open.

At 4:17 of the second period, McGing capitalized on Philip Broberg's work to create possession in the offensive zone. Broberg gathered the puck at the blue line, carried it down the wall, then cut back twice before sifting a puck to the net for new Blue Robby Fabbri. Fabbri one-touched the puck to McGing at the side of the net, and McGing beat Juuse Saros far side.

McGing, 27, was making his season debut for the Blues after he was recalled earlier this week due to injuries to St. Louis forwards. He played one game in 2022-23 and five games in 2023-24 for the Blues.

McGing was originally a fifth-round pick of St. Louis in the 2018 draft, and has spent most of his career with AHL affiliate Springfield.