Duchene propels Predators in win against Red Wings

DETROIT -- Matt Duchene scored twice during a five-goal second period for the Nashville Predators, who opened a four-game road trip with a 6-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Monday.

"Hockey is a really fickle game," Duchene said. "We could have scored just as many goals on Saturday (a 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers), but we ran into a hot goaltender. Today, we get a couple fluky goals and get rewarded for a solid effort. That's the way we need to play every game."
[WATCH: All Predators vs. Red Wings highlights]
Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist for Nashville (9-4-2), which has won five of its past seven games. Pekka Rinne made 23 saves; he is 8-0-2 in 10 starts this season.
"This was a really good effort," Forsberg said. "I thought we were a little slow in the first period, but we obviously turned it on in the second period. This is a great way to start the trip."
Roman Josi had two assists for the Predators, who defeated the Red Wings for the second time in 12 games (2-8-2). Detroit won 5-3 at Nashville on Oct. 5.
"We haven't beaten Detroit in a long time, especially here, so that's huge," Josi said.
Andreas Athanasiou scored for Detroit (4-11-1), which is 1-10-1 and has been outscored 52-21 in its past 12 games, including 17-4 in three straight losses.

Jimmy Howard allowed four goals on 15 shots before being pulled for the second straight start. Jonathan Bernier made nine saves in relief.
"I think confidence is the issue right now," Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin said. "We've got a great group of guys in here, but we've got to find something to grab onto and get our confidence back. We've got to keep battling for each other and our fans."
The Red Wings took a 1-0 lead at 2:35 of the first period on Athanasiou's first of the season. Athanasiou was held without a goal in his first 13 games after scoring 30 in 2018-19.
"We got a goal in the first period, but that doesn't make it a good start," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "I don't think either team was very good in the first period."
Nashville began its five-goal outburst in the second at 2:00 when Nick Bonino tipped Dan Hamhuis' point shot past Howard to tie it 1-1. It was Bonino's fifth goal in four games.

The Predators took a 2-1 lead at 5:32 when Kyle Turris' wrist shot found its way through traffic, and Colton Sissons scored his fifth goal at 6:34 to make it 3-1.
"There wasn't a whole lot going on either way in the first period, but in the second period, we started getting guys to the net and we were able to cash in on some chances," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said.
Duchene's first of the game made it 4-1 and chased Howard at 7:36. It was the Predators' fourth goal in 5:36.
"The puck kept going in the net, but that's not on any one person," Blashill said. "There were a lot of weird shots. We needed more stops, but there were some weird bounces."
Duchene scored again on a power play to make it 5-1 at 18:30 of the second. The goal came on Nashville's seventh shot in 1:36 with the man-advantage.
"There were a lot of 50-50 battles on that power play and we had two or three guys getting there and winning all of them," Duchene said. "We could have easily scored a couple times before we did."
Forsberg scored a power-play goal at 6:52 of the third period for the 6-1 final.

They said it

"This trip is 11 or 12 days, and when you are on the road for that long, you want to be successful. Now we've gotten the first one, which is big, and we've got a few days before we play in Colorado. We can get in a good, solid practice and be ready to play well against the [Avalanche]." -- Predators coach Peter Laviolette
"I told our guys after the second period that they are the ones making the choices that had us down 5-1. Maybe we didn't decide to forecheck the right way or maybe we didn't decide to backcheck all the way and maybe we decided not to block shots. Those were the choices we made. As a result, we got embarrassed. The guys in that room have to decide they don't want that to happen." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

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Need to know

Rinne, who turned 37 on Sunday, extended his Predators record of starts from the beginning of a season with his team getting at least one point (10). He also had an assist on Sissons' goal, his second of the season. … Red Wings center Valtteri Filppula got his 500th NHL point with an assist on Athanasiou's goal.

What's next

Predators:At the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-TN, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: At the New York Rangers on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS)