NHL: St. Louis 4, Nashville 2

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- David Backes ignited an early onslaught Thursday that carried St. Louis to a 4-2 victory over Nashville.

The Blues won their season opener thanks to three goals in the opening 10 minutes, an outburst that drove Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne from the game.

Backes scored on the power play just 2:05 into the contest, Vladimir Sobotka tallied less than four minutes later and T.J. Oshie tipped in a shot by Alexander Steen at the 9:45 mark.

Goals by Mike Fisher and David Legwand brought the Predators within one, but Steen's power-play goal with 8:44 left in the second gave the Blues some breathing room and also completed the scoring.

Jaroslav Halak claimed the victory by stopping 28 of 30 shots. Rinne gave up three goals on only six shots before being replaced by Carter Hutton, who made 21 saves.