In Nashville, the Predators’ Juuse Saros made 29 saves in a 3-1 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.

Boone Jenner put the Jackets on the board in the first period for a 1-0 lead, but Columbus was never able to build off the early momentum.

“I still think we played in spurts in the first two [periods],” Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella said. “I thought both teams played in spurts. The momentum kind of changed through the first two periods. In the third period, we just didn’t generate enough forecheck. They made a lot of plays through us. We couldn’t get many pucks to the net. We didn’t have a scoring chance in the third period, and I think they had five or six. We’ll look at the tape. We’re playing this team next game (here on Saturday). We’ve got to get a more consistent effort from more than three or four people offensively. There are some important guys on our team that just weren’t there offensively tonight, and hopefully we’ll get that in the second game.”

Filip Forsberg scored in the third period to give the Preds a 2-1 lead.

“If you look at the way he scored it, it was off of a [defensive] zone face-off,” Nashville head coach John Hynes said. “He fights through a pick, he gets out to his point, he winds up getting the puck and then he kind of powers past the defenseman. And now he’s in a situation where his skill can come out on an odd-man rush. You give him time and space, it’s a good thing for him.”

Luke Kunin tied the game up at 1-1 in the second period.

Calle Jarnkrok added a late empty net goal to seal the win for Nashville.

Watch full game highlights here

Joonas Korpisalo made 32 saves in the loss.

“It seemed like we did a lot of chasing,” Columbus’ Cam Atkinson said. “It seemed like we had a couple of shifts where we got momentum and then they went on the power play and they started taking over there. It was tough to really generate anything.”