Predators hang on to defeat Blackhawks, end 4-game skid

NASHVILLE -- Gustav Nyquist scored hours after his wife gave birth to their third child in the Nashville Predators' 4-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

Nyquist's daughter, Greta, was born Friday night in Nashville, joining sisters Charlotte and Sophie. He was able to enjoy some time with his family before joining the team for the afternoon game.

"It's been great," Nyquist said. "Both of them did great, obviously mom and baby. It was an amazing experience. Third time, but still. It's incredible. I'm super happy that they're both doing great. A little different pregame routine I guess but it was nice to get a win today, finally back in the win column."

Cole Smith scored twice for the Predators (6-10-0), who ended a four-game losing streak. Kevin Lankinen made 29 saves.

"An ode to Greta, there," Smith said. "It's super cool for [Nyquist]. I know he and his family are probably going to be celebrating this one. He'll go home and spend some time with his family. We're all family in here together so when he was able to do that, it's pretty special for everybody."

Philipp Kurashev and Tyler Johnson scored for the Blackhawks (5-10-0), who have lost three consecutive games and are 1-4-0 in their past five. Arvid Soderblom made 28 saves.

"It's just another frustrating [game]," Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. "You're in the game at the end and we push hard to kind of climb back in. I thought we had a really good start again. I don't think they got their first chance until the 13-minute mark, and then unfortunately, we had one kind of a miscue on a face-off won in the [defensive] zone that was in our net and then a power-play goal. Consecutive penalty kills put stress on us. It takes your best players out of the ice time and puts your penalty killers in some fatigue."

Yakov Trenin gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 12:07 of the first period on a wrist shot from the right circle for his first goal of the season.

"It feels so good," Trenin said. "I'm happy. I was working hard for that one for a long time, and I'm so glad I scored."

Nyquist made it 2-0 at 18:32 on the power play. Filip Forsberg took the original shot from the point, Ryan O'Reilly got to the rebound and Nyquist scored on a rebound of O'Reilly's shot.

"He epitomizes a true professional," Predators coach Andrew Brunette said of Nyquist. "Obviously he was riding the emotional roller coaster yesterday and wasn't [expected to play]. To come in and give an effort like that speaks volumes of his character and his love for the sport and his true professionalism. It's a hard thing to do. It could've been easy to take the day off and he came and played great."

Kurashev cut it to 2-1 at 13:05 of the second period on a rebound from a one-timer by Connor Bedard. He said there was an emphasis on getting more shots on goal after they had 14 in a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.

"Definitely tried to kind of simplify our game and put pucks to the net and you never know when you'll get the bounce," Kurashev said. "We've got to do more of that."

Smith gave the Predators a 3-1 lead at 16:20 of the second on a rebound of a shot from Philip Tomasino.

Johnson cut it to 3-2 at 12:15 of the third period on a wrist shot that bounced off Nashville defenseman Roman Josi.

Smith scored an empty-net goal at 19:48 for the 4-2 final.

"A couple of big goals by [Smith]," Lankinen said. "That's what it takes to win, just get greasy and play a team game. I was really happy with the effort tonight."

NOTES: Blackhawks forward Taylor Hall returned after missing two games because of a lower-body injury. He had five shots on goal in 16:39 of ice time. … Predators defenseman Spencer Stastney made his season debut; he had one shot on goal in 15:52. … Smith had his second two-goal game of the season (Oct. 19 in a 4-1 win at the New York Rangers).