Predators drub Golden Knights in Vegas, 5-2
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Pekka Rinne made 33 saves to remain unbeaten as the Nashville Predators topped the Vegas Golden Knights 5-2 on Tuesday night.
Rinne is 4-0-0 this season and has been splendid in the net, stifling one of the NHL’s most potent offenses.
Kyle Turris, Colton Sissons, Calle Jarnkrok, Filip Forsberg and Nick Bonino scored for the Predators, who had nine players get points in the win. Seventeen of Nashville’s 20 skaters to appear in a game have registered a point.
Mark Stone and Reilly Smith scored for the Golden Knights, who had won their previous two games after outscoring their opponents by a combined final of 11-4.
Nashville has scored 28 goals, its most through its first six games of a season in franchise history. The Predators have scored at least four goals in five of their six contests.
Marc-Andre Fleury, whose five goals allowed was a season-high, made 34 saves. He came into the game with a 1.96 goals-against average against the Predators, the second lowest against all opponents, but the 16-year veteran didn’t have an answer for the highest-scoring team in the league.
Turris gave Nashville an early lead when he redirected Ryan Ellis‘ shot from the point over Fleury’s glove.
The Golden Knights tied the game on Stone’s one-timer. It was his fifth goal of the season.
Smith put Vegas ahead 2-1 when he gathered the loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Rinne just before the end of the first period.
Nashville stole the momentum immediately in the second period, scoring three unanswered goals over the first 6:52.
First it was Sissons following his own shot and knocking the puck past Fleury just 44 seconds into the second, tying the game, 2-2.
Next up Viktor Arvidsson might have had the prettiest set up of the night, as he maneuvered brilliantly around Vegas defenseman Jon Merrill, skated behind the net and fed Jarnkrok, who tethered the net with a blistering shot past Fleury to put the Predators back in front.
Forsberg extended his point streak to six games with his fifth goal of the season, and 150th of his career, when he intercepted Fleury’s pass behind the net and found the open net to push Nashville’s lead to two goals.
Bonino gave Nashville a 5-2 lead early in the third, as the Predators made it five straight games with a power-play goal.
NOTES: Stone, who leads Vegas with 10 points, has three power-play goals already this season. His career high for power play goals is six. … Vegas D Shea Theodore played in his 200th career game. … Golden Knights rookie Cody Glass has a point in five of the first seven games.
UP NEXT
Nashville: Concludes a three-game trip at Arizona on Thursday
Vegas: Finishes a mini two-game homestand vs. Ottawa on Thursday.
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