Colton Sissons hat trick pushes Predators to win

TAMPA-- Colton Sissons had a hat trick for the Nashville Predators in a 6-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Thursday.
Sissons, who had seven goals in 78 NHL games, gave Nashville a 3-1 lead 13:21 into the second period when he beat Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to the short side under the glove.
He scored an empty-net goal at 14:02 for a 5-1 lead and completed the hat trick at 17:00 with a put-back of a shot by Calle Jarnkrok.
"It's kind of surreal right now," Sissons said. "I've been struggling to find the back of the net just in general, so to [score] three [Thursday] feels pretty good."

Mike Fisher, Filip Forsberg and Ryan Ellis scored for the Predators (17-14-7), who have won their past four road games.
WATCH: All Predators vs. Lightning highlights
"I liked the fact that we came out and played hard," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "There were games on the road that I thought we played OK and didn't get the results we were looking for. It's nice to start getting some road wins; we've got to get that record back up."
Tyler Johnson scored for the Lightning (19-17-4), who finished a five-game homestand 2-2-1.
"We defended, we worked, we had 70 shot attempts at the net," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "We didn't give them much the whole night. They had 24 blocked shots. That's a lot. But when you wake up in the morning the score is going to say 6-1."
Fisher scored his 11th of the season on the power play at 2:25 of the first period to give the Predators a 1-0 lead. He was able to find an opening past Vasilevskiy off a back-door pass from Ryan Johansen.

Forsberg made it 2-0 at 3:56 of the second period when he flipped a puck to the net from the right point that got over Vasilevskiy's shoulder.
"Just the simplicity of the game was the biggest key," Forsberg said. "We played a solid first period and didn't turn the puck over. Just playing a simpler game."
Johnson made it 2-1 on a power-play goal at 6:12 of the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Predators goalie Pekka Rinne on the short side.
Ellis scored at 14:04 of the second on a shot to the far post with Viktor Arvidsson providing a screen on Vasilevskiy. The goal was waved off with Arvidsson called for goalie interference but the Predators won a coach's challenge for a 4-1 lead.
Rinne made 27 saves. Vasilevskiy made 13 saves on 18 shots.

Goal of the game

Johansen made a cross-ice pass to Fisher as he cut toward the net to catch the Lightning penalty killers and Vasilevskiy off guard.

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Save of the game

Rinne turned away Lightning forward Ondrej Palat on a tip in front at 9:27 of the third period.

Unsung performance of the game

The Predators had 24 blocked shots by 12 players. Defenseman Mattias Ekholm led Nashville with four.

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Highlight of the game

It took Sissons two chances to get his third goal.
"The guys were chirping at me for missing the first swipe," Sissons said. "But I'm glad I got it down on the second one."

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They said it

"Actually [Sissons] got rewarded for all the hard work he's put in. He's not one of those guys that you see in the score sheet, but he's one of those guys that shows up every night, works hard and battles for the club. So it's really fun for him and the team to see that hat trick." -- Predators forward Filip Forsberg
"I don't think it was a lack of execution, I think effort was there tonight and it's just one of those games where the puck goes into your net and you can't find a way to score. So I definitely don't think it was a 6-1 game, it's kind of a tough one to explain, but we have to take the effort with us. We have a big road trip coming up and we have to get points. We have to forget about the result and take what was positive out of this game." -- Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman

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Need to know

Predators forward James Neal was scratched with an upper-body injury. … Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. … Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn left the game in the third period.

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What's next

Predators: At the Florida Panthers on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, FS-F, FS-TN, NHL.TV)
Lightning: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN1, CSN-PH, SUN, NHL.TV)