In Pittsburgh, the Penguins Tristan Jarry made 28 saves on Thursday night in a 2-0 win over the visiting Nashville Predators. 
The win pushed the Pens to within three points of the idle New York Islanders for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.
“The two points are huge,” Jarry said. “That’s all we’re going for this time of year. Every time we go on the ice, we want to put our best game forward. I think we were able to do that tonight. We needed the two points. I think that helps us a lot.”
The Pens also stayed one point ahead of the Florida Panthers, who defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2, on Thursday.
“I think it’s important that we feel good about it tonight,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s a competitive team that we played. They beat some pretty good teams as of late. So, I just think we have to feel good about it tonight.
“That’s an important aspect, just the confidence moving forward. I think we can take that out of tonight. … Having that playoff mindset, that we raise our intensity level in all the aspects of the game.”
After a scoreless first period, Jason Zucker staked the Pens to a 1-0 lead off an assist from Brian Dumoulin at14:15 of the middle frame.
“Great pass,” Sullivan said. “I thought it was a great play by ‘Dumo.'” Real good poise, great vision. It was just a heck of a play. … That’s what he’s capable of and, obviously, that was a great play by him.”
Nashville dropped to 37-29-8.
“It’s a playoff mindset now,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “You have to move on to the next one. You have to take some lessons from each game, but you certainly have to be able to turn around quick.”
Nashville was outshot, 15-5, in the middle frame.
“I think they stepped it up in the second,” Nashville defenseman Tyson Barrie said. “Wasn’t our best period. Give them credit, they played well. But we just couldn’t find one tonight. We had a couple breakaways.”
Jake Guentzel scored off the power play at 13″03 of the third for the 2-0 final.
Juuse Saros made 43 saves in the Predators loss.
“They’re in a similar spot to us where they’re battling for the playoffs.” Barrie said. “Maybe they had a little more tonight.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.