Gagner scores hat trick for Red Wings in win against Predators

DETROIT -- Sam Gagner scored his first three goals of the season for the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-2 win against the Nashville Predators at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday.

Gagner put the Red Wings ahead in the second period and again in the third before scoring into an empty net for his third NHL hat trick and first since a four-goal game Feb. 2, 2012, for the Edmonton Oilers against the Chicago Blackhawks.
"I thought I've played pretty well this season, but I didn't feel great about tonight until I got that first goal," he said. "Then I end up with three. That's how things are in this league. You just have to keep working."

Jonathan Bernier made 37 saves for Detroit (6-13-3), which split a two-game set against Nashville after a 2-0 loss Tuesday.
"We've struggled to put the puck in the net this season and we've had to battle some adversity, so tonight was huge," Red Wings forward Luke Glendening said. "When we did have some breakdowns, [Bernier] was huge. He's been great for us all season."
Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula scored for Nashville (8-11-0), which lost for the first time in three games.
"This one hurts," Haula said. "We've been playing better as a group, got a couple wins, and it felt like we were trending in the right direction before tonight."
Glendening gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 4:55 of the first period when he backhanded a rebound past goalie Pekka Rinne from one knee.
Granlund tied it 1-1 at 14:15 with the Predators' third power-play goal of the two-game set. He took a pass from Roman Josi at the edge of the crease and tucked in his own rebound after Bernier made the initial save.
Gagner put Detroit ahead 2-1 at 8:38 of the second period, bouncing the puck in off Rinne from behind the goal line for his first goal in 18 games dating to Feb. 29, 2020.
Haula tied it 2-2 at 2:55 of the third period, batting the puck in off the crossbar for his first goal of the season.

Gagner gave the Red Wings a 3-2 lead at 9:58 when his pass across the crease went in off Rinne's skate.
Adam Erne made it 4-2 at 16:22 when he scored on a rebound.
"I think we were a little too loose defending rushes and we gave them too many chances," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "And we weren't doing enough offensively to score goals. I think we only had two or three Grade-A chances going into the third period."
Gagner scored the empty-net goal with 3:04 left for the 5-2 final.
The Red Wings have played 11 two-game sets this season. They're 1-7-3 in the first game and 5-6-0 in the second.
"I've been around a lot of two-game series in my coaching career, going back to college, and it is very, very hard to sweep a team," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "The reality of human nature is that the team that loses the first game is going to dig in to a greater degree for the second one. I think we've shown some good resilience in those situations this season."
NOTES:Josi has 11 assists in his past 11 games against the Red Wings. … The five goals were the most scored by Detroit this season. … The Red Wings have not scored on the power play in 14 games after going 0-for-3 on Thursday. They are tied for the second-longest drought in the NHL expansion era (since the 1967-68) with the 1997-98 Toronto Maple Leafs and 2015-16 Ottawa Senators. The 1977-78 Cleveland Barons had a 16-game drought.