Predators pull away in 3rd to defeat Jets

NASHVILLE -- Roman Josi scored twice, and Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and an assist for the Nashville Predators in a 4-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

Steven Stamkos also scored for the Predators (7-11-3), who have won two of three. Juuse Saros made 23 saves.

“I thought that was a pretty good recipe of what we have to do and understand we’ve got to continue this,” Stamkos said. “The story of this year has been we have efforts like this and then we don’t follow it up. So, let’s follow it up and get on a little roll here.”

Adam Lowry scored for the Jets (17-4-0), who were coming off a 4-1 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday. Eric Comrie made 32 saves.

“I don’t think it was energy that was the issue, I think it was just execution," Lowry said. "For the most part, I liked our first period. We had some chances. Obviously, we go into the first intermission down one, but I think the style of game was right. The game plan was there. Come out in the [third] period and there was a lot of shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Stamkos gave the Predators a 2-1 lead at 3:20 of the third period, slapping home a big rebound in the left circle for a power-play goal.

Marchessault pushed the lead to 3-1 at 5:04. Haydn Fleury tried to clear a rebound in front, but the puck instead went right to Marchessault, who scored glove side with a wrist shot from the right hash marks.

Josi scored an empty-net goal at 18:40 for the 4-1 final.

“Obviously, it’s not been going well for us and we had to change some things,” Marchessault said. “I think you’ve got to give credit to the coaching staff. They realized a couple things that we weren’t doing in the past 20 games that we started doing tonight. We saw results, so I think it’s on us to go with the game plan and execute. Tonight, we did.”

Josi gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 9:55 of the first period on a slap shot from the left point through a screen.

“Every game is huge,” Josi said. “It’s early in the season, but every game matters a lot for us. Obviously, we dug ourselves a little bit of a hole here. We’ll definitely enjoy this one tonight, but once tomorrow hits we’re going to New Jersey and playing another great team (on Monday). We need to keep building and play even better.”

Lowry tied it 1-1 at 9:58 of the second period, jamming in a loose puck in the crease.

“Saros played great,” Lowry said. “The style of play we expect from them, especially when they’re at home. They’re a hard forechecking team and they create a lot of turnovers off of that forecheck. They get a lot of pucks to the slot. They’ve got some guys on the back end that are real active. I think when we look at their roster, obviously they’ve had a disappointing start to the season, but they’re a team that’s a lot better than their record shows.”

Jets defenseman Dylan Samberg left the game in the second period with a broken foot after blocking a shot from Stamkos.

“He’s got a broken foot, so it’s not good,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “We’re going to send him home tomorrow when we get to [Minnesota], and we’ll get it looked at when he gets home.”

NOTES: Jets forward Mark Scheifele was minus-3 and was assessed three minor penalties. ... The Jets have four games remaining on their season-long six-game road trip. ... It was the first time this season that Stamkos and Marchessault have scored in the same game. ... Predators forward Fedor Svechkov played 7:34 in his NHL debut.