Elliott – the bane of a clean Predators win. (Photo: Sarah Connors/flickr)

Music City may have been singing the blues after a disappointing shootout loss to the Blue Jackets Saturday night, but the real Blues will settle into town Monday night as the St. Louis Blues visit the Predators in another Central Division showdown.

Despite the Blues winning the Central Division title last season, the Predators dominated the Blues in regular season play with four wins in six games. If the pattern holds, the Preds will be in for five wins in a row with this next game.

But before even hitting the ice Monday, the Predators likely have some issues to work through after Saturday’s game. One such issue appears to be the need to have more control of the puck rather than the constant back and forth play of the third period against the Blue Jackets. Another possible issue would be meshing the playing styles of Weber and Josi, particularly after Weber and Suter being matched up for all of recent memory.

Now what’s really scary going into Monday’s game is how well the Blues played against Detroit Saturday, taking down the much depleted Red Wings roster in a six goal shutout, including two goals scored by newbie player Tarasenko in his NHL debut for St. Louis. Holy smokes! Cobine this with the fact that the Predators have played more shootout games with the Blues than any other team and it’s time to get ready for a long night.

So while Rinne prepares to stop those shots and Erat prepares for another first minute stunner goal, fans can prepare to wear their gold for the 6 pm EST game Monday night at Bridgestone! Let’s Go Preds!