Lightning raise Stanley Cup banner, then defeat Predators

TAMPA -- Blake Coleman and Tyler Johnson each had a goal and an assist for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 6-3 win against the Nashville Predators at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves for the Lightning (19-5-2), who played their first home game in front of fans this season. The crowd of 3,800 saw the 2020 Stanley Cup championship banner get raised before the game.
"It was awesome," Coleman said. "3,800 and it felt almost like a sold-out building to me. You could feel the energy, the excitement of having people back and their excitement being around the team again. I know for me personally seeing that banner go up brought it all back, a big wave of feelings, and really reminds you of what we went through in that bubble (in Toronto and Edmonton for the postseason) as a team."
Yakov Trenin had a goal and an assist, and Alexandre Carrier and Erik Haula scored for the Predators (11-16-1), who have lost all five games against the Lightning this season. Pekka Rinne made 22 saves.
The teams will finish the two-game set here Monday.
"I think there's a lot of positives to take out of the game, we just have to clean up some of these mistakes at key times," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "I thought we really fought our way back in the game. It was a one-goal game and we have a mental error going back in defensive-zone coverage. And those are little things."

Johnson gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 6:55 of the first period with a sliding tip-in on a pass from Erik Cernak. Mathieu Joseph made it 2-0 at 18:35 with a slap shot from beyond the right face-off circle. Alex Killorn extended the lead to 3-0 at 2:24 of the second period with a power-play goal.
"[The power play is] vibing right now, and it's big because they are winning face-offs and get puck possession, that adds to it," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "You have your retrievals and shooting pucks and making plays, so they are getting rewarded."
Trenin cut it to 3-1 at 12:02 of the second period.
"Yakov had a great game," Haula said. "Overall we have a lot of injuries, so a lot of guys are getting a chance to play and making the most of it. Overall our guys battled hard."
Brayden Point extended the lead to 4-1 at 18:48 when he skated across the middle through multiple defenders and scored with a wrist shot from just above the right circle to the far side.
"You don't defend that," Coleman said. "He's just another level of special when he's carrying the puck up the ice. [When] you have 15 NHL players on the bench kicking each other saying, 'Did you see that?' you know you have special talent."
Carrier scored for his first NHL point to cut it to 4-2 at 3:17 of the third period.
"It's been a long journey, but it's been a good process," said Carrier, who played his ninth NHL game and fourth this season. "I learned a lot. The goal felt awesome, but at the same time we didn't get the two points."

Haula scored a power-play goal on a rebound at the side of the net to cut it to 4-3 at 5:03.
Coleman pushed the lead to 5-3 with a backhand from the low slot at 10:02, and Anthony Cirelli scored into an empty net at 18:26 for the 6-3 final.
"Winning is always the better feeling, and after the loss to [the Detroit Red Wings] we knew we could play much better," Cernak said of a 6-4 loss at Detroit on Thursday. "In the third period we gave up two goals, but we shook it off and kept going, so that was good."
NOTES: Predators defenseman Frederic Allard had one hit and was minus-2 playing 16:59 in his NHL debut. … Tampa Bay has outscored Nashville 25-10 in the five games this season. They play each other three more times in the Discover Central Division.