Josi, McDonagh boost Predators past Lightning for 3rd win in row

NASHVILLE -- Roman Josi and Ryan McDonagh each had a goal and an assist, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1 at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Juuse Saros made 32 saves for the Predators (14-12-0), who have won three consecutive games and are 9-2-0 in their past 11.

“Really happy for the penalty kill to step up the way they did against arguably one of the greatest power plays of all time,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said after his team was 4-for-4 on the kill. “Obviously [Saros] played a big part in that, but those are big kills that squashed any momentum that we might’ve lost. Our power play was opportunistic and had a couple of big goals.”

Predators forward Filip Forsberg said, “The power play was good, but the penalty kill was the key to the game for sure. One of the best units, if not the best power play on the other side and they shut them down, which was phenomenal. We obviously gave them a few too many opportunities, but that’s the game right there.”

Alex Barré-Boulet scored, and Jonas Johansson made 25 saves for the Lightning (12-11-5), who had won two in a row. Nikita Kucherov had an 11-game point streak end (21 points; six goals, 15 assists).

The Lightning were coming off a 3-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.

“We’re playing a decent road game, and then they get two quick ones in the second,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “Once that happened, we never punched back. That’s probably the most disappointing thing about the game. I mean you’re not going to win every game, but let’s give a push. Whether you’re up or down or protecting the lead or trying to come from behind, especially in that case, you’ve got to punch back. And we didn’t tonight.”

Barre-Boulet gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead at 13:32 of the first period. Anthony Cirelli found Brandon Hagel skating into the slot, and Hagel fed Barre-Boulet for a one-timer in the right face-off circle.

“I think we were getting guys to the net, but we just weren’t recovering the puck,” Hagel said. “… If you’re going to do that all night you’re not going to have second chances and have the goalie scrambling. It was kind of one of those nights.”

Juuso Parssinen tied it 1-1 on the power play at 17:14. McDonagh’s shot bounced off Predators forward Philip Tomasino and went to Parssinen, who scored with a one-timer in the slot.

Forsberg gave Nashville a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 2:37 of the second period, scoring on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.

“Two big goals coming from each unit,” Predators forward Tommy Novak said. “I thought we worked it around pretty well. Our entries were solid. It was a really big special-teams game for us. Probably the game-changer, so it was nice for us to get those two goals.”

McDonagh pushed it to 3-1 at 4:32, one-timing a rebound with a backhand from the left circle for his first goal of the season.

“I’ve been getting some looks here,” McDonagh said. “I’ve been hoping to do it sooner, but at the end of the day it was just trying to keep a puck alive there, creep down and keep something alive. The puck just squirted out to me, and I tried to get as much as I could on it.”

Josi made it 4-1 at 6:11 of the third period on a wrist shot through traffic from the right point.

Yakov Trenin scored into an empty net at 13:13 for the 5-1 final.

NOTES: Kucherov finished with six shots on goal and 10 shot attempts in 23:26 of ice time. … Tampa Bay forward Tanner Jeannot played in Nashville for the first time since he was traded by the Predators to the Lightning on Feb. 26, finishing with one shot in 15:46. He played his first three NHL seasons for Nashville (152 games). … Predators defenseman Tyson Barrie was a healthy scratch for the third time in four games. … Novak returned after missing 11 games because of an upper-body injury. He went 3-for-6 on face-offs in 12:55.