In Nashville, it was the Filip Forsberg Show on Tuesday night. Forsberg scored four goals in a 6-0 win for the Predators over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets
Juuse Saros made 27 saves in the shutout win.
Nashville improved to 12-9-1.
“I think our line started off really well in the first, and obviously got one early, had a lot more chances,” Forsberg said. “Both [Granlund] and [Duchene] played incredible. Made life very easy for me. I was able to finish off some of their plays, obviously, and it was good.”
Yakov Trenin also scored for Nashville.
“Not a good start by us,” the Blue Jackets’ Boone Jenner said. “We couldn’t make plays. We were not as sharp and as quick as we wanted to be throughout the night, but the start definitely hurt us.”
Mikael Granlund had the primary assist on each of Forsberg’s goals.
“I thought that line in general … you could see right off the bat they had a lot of energy, and I think their execution and the tenaciousness that they played with to be able to put themselves in scoring areas was very good,” Predators head coach John Hynes said of the top line of Forsberg-Granlund-Duchene. “Obviously, Filip was in scoring areas. He was feeling it tonight and it’s nice to see. It’s nice to see them play the way they did tonight and also get rewarded for us.”
Nick Cousins added a strike in the third period for the 6-0 final.
“You’re looking at trying to change the momentum at three,” Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen said. “Elvis has been tremendous for us. At that point, three quick ones like that, we’ve got to do something. There’s no blame. We move by it. He’s been a tremendous, tremendous key for us. I expect him to bounce right back.”
Columbus dropped to 12-8-0.
“It was nice to see [Saros] be able to get rewarded,” Hynes said. “I think he had to work for it. There were some stretches in the game, particularly in the second, when they got a little bit of momentum. They made a push.”
Elvis Merzlikins got the start for the Blue Jackets and surrendered three goals and made six saves before getting the just past the midway point of the first period.
Joonas Korpisalo made 25 saves in a mop up role.
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