In Nashville, Matt Duchene’s early goal gave the Predators a 1-0 lead on Tuesday night. 
From there, it was all downhill as the Vegas Golden Knights reeled off five unanswered goals in a 5-1 decision over the Preds.
Adin Hill made 16 saves in the Vegas win.
“I thought the break honestly couldn’t come at a better time for our group,” Hill said. “It felt like the last three games there in New York, especially that trip, I felt like we deserved to win those games and just pucks weren’t going our way, pucks going off a skate or whatever.
“The energy the last couple of days in practice has been phenomenal, and I think we carried that into the game today.”
The Golden Knights moved to 30-18-4.
Vegas replied to Duchene goal with 3 of their own in the first period.
Michael Amadio t and William Carrier scored 27 seconds apart for a 2-1 lead.
“I thought Amadio had one of his strongest games all year,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He’s got to continue to win his puck battles like he did tonight. I think it was one of his best games all year in terms of winning battles. He was an animal on the wall and making good plays after he won them.”
Phil Kessel also scored in the frame for the 3-1 advantage headed to the middle frame.
“It was a good response to keep the game tight, and [we] came out of that first period with a 3-1 lead, [which] is good for us,” Carrier said.
The Predators dropped to 24-19-6.
“I pretty much gave them two easy goals in the first,” Nashville’s Roman Josi said. “The first one, the puck bounced, it’s going to happen sometimes. I think I have to do a better job of recovering. The second one, I kind of stepped up and didn’t get the puck. … I feel like we actually started well, and then gave them those two easy goals, which is on me.”
Chandler Stephenson pushed the Vegas lead to 4-1 in the second period.
“They are chasing us, Nashville,” Cassidy said. “It’s tight in the [Western Conference], so you’ve got to make these games count. Let’s start taking care of business, playing the right way, building our game so that it’s really sound going toward the end of the year.”
Alex Pietrangelo added an empty-net goal with 60 seconds left on the game clock, for the 5-1 final.
Juuse Saros made 25 saves in the Nashville loss.
“We didn’t get enough shots through,” Duchene said. “We took a lot of shots and they didn’t get through. … I thought our decisions were better in the second and third period, but you’ve got to get pucks through at the end of the day or keep possession until you can break them down. They did a great job of crowding the house and blocking shots.”
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