Georgiev, Rangers hold off Predators for second straight win

NASHVILLE -- Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves to help the New York Rangers defeat the Nashville Predators 2-1 at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

Filip Chytil and Ryan Strome scored for the Rangers (5-5-1), who have won two consecutive games and three of four.
"It was a lot of cross plays side-to-side and a lot of screens, so I had to battle for that," Georgiev said. "But I think the guys helped me a lot with a lot of blocked shots. They played really hard from the beginning, and it was easier to play when we were leading."
WATCH: [All Rangers vs. Predators highlights]
Viktor Arvidsson scored, and Juuse Saros made 28 saves for the Predators (8-4-2), whose point streak ended at six games (4-0-2).
"We were chasing the game," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "I actually thought that we were probably at our best parts of the game defensively and fell down 2-0, and so [it was] kind of unfortunate the way that that happened. From there you're pressing.
"You've got to give them some credit; they played good defense. Their goaltender played well. We missed some opportunities, missed some shots, hit the post a few times and just couldn't seem to get it to fall tonight."
Chytil gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 16:05 of the first period, beating Saros with a wrist shot on a 2-on-1 rush after a turnover.

"I'm just trying to play my game, but the most important thing is we won the game and we've got two winning games in a row," said Chytil, who has scored in consecutive games since being recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League on Monday. "We just have to keep going with how we're playing."
Strome gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead at 4:16 of the second period on a rush with Artemi Panarin. New York caught the Predators on a bad line change, and Strome redirected a feed from Panarin past Saros to extend his point streak to six games (four goals, five assists).
"I thought our pace was good," New York coach David Quinn said. "We had gaps all over the ice. We had some great scoring chances today to make it 3-1 and couldn't do it. I thought our penalty kill was huge down the stretch. Just a gusty effort."
Arvidsson scored a power-play goal at 14:34 of the second period to make it 2-1. Filip Forsberg passed the puck from above the left circle into the slot and Arvidsson redirected it past Georgiev.

Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad missed his second consecutive game because of an upper-body injury.

They said it

"I think it's important to know where the guys are and maybe where they're going to go. I tried to read the passes and read the option for the pass as well as the shot." -- Rangers goalie Alexandar Georgiev on defending cross-ice passing plays
"The guys that have been throwing up the numbers right now, [Nick Bonino, Calle Jarnkrok and Austin Watson], just trying to maybe look for more from different players. We just moved it around a little bit, and it seemed to catch some fire with regard to [Ryan Johansen, Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg]. They got going. They started moving things pretty well in the offensive zone and created a lot of chances and a lot of shots. I thought they were pretty good once they got together." -- Predators coach Peter Laviolette on moving Forsberg to Johansen's line and Jarnkrok to Matt Duchene's line during the game

Need to know

Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich's point streak ended at four games. … Predators forward Rocco Grimaldi played a total of one minute during two shifts in the third period. The second one began at 17:03 and lasted nine seconds. ... Nashville defenseman Dan Hamhuis played his 1,100th NHL game.

What's next

Rangers: Host the Ottawa Senators on Monday (7 p.m. ET; RDS, MSG, TSN5, NHL.TV)
Predators: At the Detroit Red Wings on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-D+, FS-TN, NHL.TV)