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ST. LOUIS -- David Backes and his St. Louis Blues teammates were just trying to keep pace with the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night. Backes had a goal and assist in the first period to lead the Blues to a 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators in the season opener for both teams. St. Louis scored three times in the first 9:45 to jump in front 3-0 and chase Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne. The early scoring came on the heels of the Cardinals 9-1 win over Pittsburgh in the opening game of the NL Division Series. The start of the hockey game was moved back 30 minutes to allow the fans time to make the five-block trek from Busch Stadium, "The Cards scored nine today, we were trying to keep up," Backes said. The baseball game was shown on the scoreboard before the Blues game, charging up the already crazed crowd. Watching the Cardinals roll to an easy win set the tone for hockey team, which came out on a roll. "Its exciting, everything thats going on in this city," defenceman Alex Pietrangelo said. "It was a great day for St. Louis sports. The fans were really into it. "Im just glad we were able to put on a good show." Pietrangelo had two first-period assists to pace the early scoring. Jaroslav Halak made 28 saves for the Blues and improved to 9-3-3 against the Predators. Backes, Vladimir Sobotka, T.J. Oshie and Alex Steen scored for St. Louis, which was 2 of 4 on the power play. St. Louis has won four of its past five home openers. Nashville, which missed the playoffs last season, is 7-7-1 in season openers. The Blues came out aggressively, scoring three times on their first six shots. "The first 10 minutes were ideal," Backes said. "This was a result we can love. Its just a first step, but we had a lot of guys contribute on the score sheet and off the score sheet. "It all adds up to a pretty good team victory." St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock was also pleased. "I thought that the players that have been here a while really put their best foot forward," he said. "This gives us a chance to build on some things." Backes scored from close range at 2:05, just three seconds after Matt Cullen was sent off for tripping. Backes pounced on a shot from the blue line by Pietrangelo. The goal came 51 minutes after the final out of the baseball game. Sobotka tallied on a break along the left wing to make it 2-0. He went by Kevin Klein and sent a backhand behind Rinne. Oshie converted on a pass from Steen to push the lead to 3-0. Rinne was pulled after that tally. "Obviously, Im not happy with the result, not happy with the effort," Rinne said. Nashville climbed within 3-2 on goals by Mike Fisher and David Legwand, who scored off a pass from Patric Hornqvist. Steen scored a power-play goal at 11:16 of the second period to stretch the lead to 4-2. Halak then made nine third-period saves to preserve the lead. Nashville defenceman Seth Jones, the No. 4 overall pick in the draft, played 18:35 and had three shots on goal in his debut. "I had a couple good shifts to start the game and that carried me throughout out the game," Jones said. Jones, who was celebrating his 19th birthday, is the son of former NBA journeyman Popeye Jones. Popeye Jones, an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, was in attendance. "It was a thrill, Im just excited to be here for this," Popeye Jones said. NOTES: St. Louis has made the playoffs in 37 of its 46 seasons. ... Nashville coach Barry Trotz is the longest-tenured head coach with the same team with 1,115 games. ... St. Louis LW Brenden Morrow fixed his work-visa problems earlier in the day and was able to play. ... Hitchcock improved to 10-3-4 in season openers.... Halak, who played in just 16 games last season due to groin injuries, last won on March 23, 2012, a 3-0 win over Edmonton. 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Now the Minnesota Vikings have set their sights on soccer.TORONTO - Coming off a pair of wire-to-wire victories, the revamped Raptors offence will come face-to-face with the Charlotte Bobcats (11-14) and their improved defence at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday. Listen live on TSN 1050 Radio beginning at 7pm et. Although the Raptors (9-13) have had a renewed confidence about them since dealing Rudy Gay - theyve won three of four games since the trade - the lowly Bobcats continue to be a perplexing thorn in their side. The Bobcats, who snapped a three-game losing streak with a 95-87 victory over Sacramento on Tuesday, have lost their last three games in Toronto but theyve won six straight over the Raptors in Charlotte and their most recent meeting is one that still haunts Dwane Casey. "Theyre a very difficult team for us to play against, to defend, to score on," Casey admitted after practice on Tuesday, reflecting on a crushing 92-90 Nov. 6 loss in Charlotte. "They came out and attacked us at their place and did what they wanted to do to us." "Charlotte happens to have our number and weve got to come out in attack mode against them and try to get that corrected." Toronto got off to a slow start in that contest and the comeback ultimately fell short in the dying seconds when Caseys team failed to commit a foul to extend the game. "For us, we definitely have to match their energy," said Amir Johnson, who had 13 points and seven rebounds against the Bobcats earlier in the season. "We looked over film [from that game] but weve got a new team. We know what they like to do and the main thing weve got to do is outwork those guys." This Raptors team is looking and playing a lot different than the one that fell to Charlotte last month. Gay, who led them in scoring with 20 points in that loss, is gone and Torontos offence has been more cohesive as a result. Last in the league in assists prior to the trade, the Raptors have recorded 20 or more dimes in three of the last four games, also shooting at least 45 per cent from the field in a season-high four straight contests. "[The ball is] moving pretty well," said newcomer Greivis Vasquez, averaging 9.5 points and 4.0 assists in two games with the Raptors. "I think our offence is so smooth, any offence is so smooth when you pass the ball and were doing that lately." For more on the Raptors improved offence and the beneficiaries of the seven-player trade, listen to TSN 1050s Raptors Report podcast. Although the Bobcats rank next to last in scoring, theyre much improved on the other end of the floor under new head coach Steve Clifford. Charlotte is allowing fewer than 93 points per contest, only two NBA teams surrender less. On Tuesday the Bobcats held Sacramento to 87 points, their 21st time holding an opponent under 100, the most in the league this season. "Theyre packing the paint, guys are making you shoot jump shots against them," Casey said of Charlottes improved defence. "Protecting the paint is a big thing, youre going to have to make jump shots, youve got to get open on the wings, youve got to be strong with the ball because theyre getting into it." Trends and Tidbits With back-to-back wins over Philadelphia and Chicago, the Raptors havent trailed in eight quarters of basketball. Its the first time theyve won consecutive games without trailing since January 2013 against the 76ers and Bobcats. The Raptors held Chicago to an opponent season-low 77 points on Saturday. It was also the first time Toronto has held an opponent under 40 per cent shootting this year.dddddddddddd. Caseys Raptors teams are 23-9 when holding teams under 40 per cent, including an 11-1 mark last season. Although the Bobcats entered Tuesdays game last in both threes per game and three-point field goal percentage, they shot 8-for-17 from long range against the Kings and are now 4-2 on the season when making six or more treys. Bobcats guard Kemba Walker, who is heating up after a rough start to the season, is averaging 20.4 points over his last eight games. What to Watch For Boxing out Although the Raptors opened the season as one of the best rebounding teams in the league, Coach Casey has noticed a slippage in that category of late and has used practice time this week to address it. "We had that same issue in the exhibition season and we corrected it," Casey said, concerned about his teams effort boxing out and establishing rebounding position in practice. "Weve just got to continue to work on it. Its a very difficult thing to do now because you dont want to do a lot of banging on the bodies just because of the time of year it is but mentally you can focus in and lock in." The Raptors coach penalized players for giving up offensive rebounds in Tuesdays practice, forcing them to do running drills and hopes he has gotten through to his team going into a matchup with the physical Bobcats frontcourt. Throw the first punch Although the Raptors loss to Charlotte in November ended with a controversial final play, Casey stressed that it should have never come to that. Toronto was dominated in the first quarter, outscored 32-18 as the Bobcats shot an astonishing 15-for-20 from the field in the period. "It was the worst quarter, other than the Golden State fourth quarter, that weve had," Casey admitted. "So weve got to come in this game energized, ready to attack." The Bobcats got off to another hot start on Tuesday, besting the Kings 35-22 after 12 minutes. However, Toronto seems to have rectified its slow starts of late. The Raptors have won all four first quarters since the trade, outscoring opponents by a combined total of 40 points. Although theyve won all four fourth quarters as well, theyve lost six of eight second and third frames over that span. Who to Watch For Amir Johnson After a slow start to the season, Johnson has picked up right where he left off following last years breakout campaign. The Raptors forward was sent to the bench for a couple games until an injury to Tyler Hansbrough helped earn him his job back. Since then hes been lights out. Johnson is shooting 71 per cent, averaging 20.0 points and 9.0 boards in his last six games. "Players go through slumps, hes had is, hes back now," Casey said of his starting four-man. Without Gay in the lineup, the Raptors are moving the ball and running more pick and rolls, which has been largely responsible for Johnsons reemergence. He has also found instant chemistry playing alongside Vasquez. "Hes a great pick and roll player," Vasquez said of his new teammates. "He can catch, he sets good screens and its going to open up so many different things, its only been two games." Gerald Henderson Like Johnson, Henderson is one of the more unheralded players in the association and the Bobcats guard has proven himself to be a bona fide Raptor killer over the years. In 11 career games against Toronto, Henderson is averaging 14.4 points on a red-hot 54 per cent shooting. Most recently, he scored 23 on 10-of-17 shooting in this seasons win over the Raptors. ' ' '