Steven Stamkos and Roman Josi both scored on the power play, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Colorado Avalanche by a 5-2 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds points in five of their last six outings and a victory to begin the month of November.
Colton Sissons, Filip Forsberg and Gustav Nyquist also found the back of the net for Nashville, and Juuse Saros made 28 saves in a game the Preds say wasn’t perfect, but they’ll certainly take the win.
“Anytime you win, you feel a lot better,” Stamkos said. “It's a contagious feeling. So, hopefully we can build on that. I think [if you] look at this stretch that we put together, five of six with a point, you have to get something positive out of the stretch that we've had.”
“I thought it was a step,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said of his team’s effort. “It was a hard game. I think we were maybe a little bit nervous or a little bit not quite on our game early on. I thought our puck play was a little bit sloppy, but we hung in there. We stayed positive, we worked, we communicated with each other as the game went on. It was a hard win, they all are in this League, and I think you're proud of the little bit of a gutty [effort], because I know it was muddy there for us. It wasn't clean, and we stayed with it.”
After the first period finished with zeros on the scoreboard, Cale Makar gave the visitors a 1-0 lead when he converted on a 4-on-3 power play. But then, with a man advantage of their own, Roman Josi fed Stamkos, and the winger one-timed a shot off the glove of Justus Annunen and into the twine to get the Preds on the board.
“The first one was pretty quick, Stammer from the spot, and it was just a matter of time for him,” Josi said of Stamkos on the power play. “I feel like he’s hit like 10 posts and 10 crossbars so far, so they're going to go in, and I'm glad it did. He’s done it his whole career, so he's going to score a lot of goals.”
Before the second stanza was out, Sissons tallied on a masterful deflection of a Marc Del Gaizo point shot to give Nashville their first lead of the night and a 2-1 count through 40 minutes.
The Preds added to the scoresheet on another man advantage in the final frame - this time on a rocket from Josi for his first of the season - and although Nathan MacKinnon brought the Avs to within one with an extra attacker, Forsberg and Nyquist then finished the night with a pair of empty-net tallies.
“I actually thought our third was probably our best period,” Josi said. “I felt like we were up one goal and still created a lot of chances. Our forecheck was great. They turned over a lot of pucks, and that's kind of what we have to get to. It’s a huge win, and like I said, build on it, and hopefully we’ll start playing 60 minutes like that and get better and better.”
Nashville’s special teams stood out on Saturday night with a pair of power-play markers - and a 3-for-4 effort from the penalty kill against a dangerous Colorado power play - with both units receiving praise.
“We've tweaked some things, we made some adjustments, we're trying to get guys in comfortable spots, and then it starts to come,” Stamkos said of the power play. “Then you see the skill that's on there…and just the reads. It's an important part of the game, special teams. The penalty kill, it’s been unbelievable this year. So, we want to start pulling our end and tonight I thought we did that.”
The start to the season wasn’t ideal for the Predators, but they’re beginning to see more positives than negatives in their game. The points are coming too, and with at least one point in five of their last six, there’s plenty to build on with another busy week on the horizon.
“You’ve got to focus on the positive side of things,” Sissons said. “We’ve had some struggles and some challenges, but now we're finding ways to get points. Our game is far from perfect, but tonight is a good building block for us.”
Notes:
Per NHL PR, Josi recorded his 167th career multi-point game and passed Kris Letang (166 GP) for 25th most in NHL history among defensemen.
Stamkos scored his 216th career power-play goal and passed Joe Nieuwendyk for 13th-most in NHL history.
Predators forward Mark Jankowski returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing one game due to injury. Forwards Michael McCarron and Philip Tomasino, as well as defenseman Dante Fabbro, were scratched for Nashville on Saturday.
The Preds will conclude their three-game homestand on Monday night when they host the Los Angeles Kings before hitting the road in the middle of the week.
