In Nashville, the Predators got a solid performance from across the bench on Tuesday night, and defeated the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1, to game two points in their chase for the playoffs.
Juuse Saros made 28 saves in the Nashville win.
“It’s not flashy by any means,” Predators forward Cole Smith said. “It’s a lot of hard work, a lot of buying in, a lot of care. I don’t think we give up too much. I think we’re really committed defensively. I think offensively we can probably push a little more to get more pucks and generate more offense, but I think that will come. We’re a young group, and as long as we keep playing together and playing hard, I like our chances.”
The Jets are four points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card spot, the Jets lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-3, on Tuesday.
Detroit dropped to 30-28-9.
“We just felt like we got a world-class goalie performance against us,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “The critique is the fact that we spent 10 minutes in the box. Great job on the penalty kill. We went 5-for-5. But the fact that we were the better team 5-on-5 tonight, that’s 10 minutes of the game we were unable to get rhythm in our game.”
After a scoreless first period, Kiefer Sherwood scored to give the Preds a 1-0 lead. It stayed that way into the third period.
Tommy Novak hit foa goal at 2:29 of the third period to push the advantage to 2-0 for Nashville.
“Tommy is feeling it, which is good,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “I think he deserves the opportunity he’s getting. He’s been very consistent with his game. He’s playing with a ton of speed. I think he’s got a lot of swagger with the puck right now. He’s feeling it on that side of it.
“When you’re dependable and reliable, your ability comes out more. I think that’s really good to see with Tommy.”
Alex Chiasson scored in the 18th minute of the third period to make the last minutes of the third more interesting in the 2-1 final.
“It’s crazy how sometimes the game flows,” Chiasson said. “We get one maybe early on, it’s a different type of game. For the most part, we stuck with it for 60. Both goalies played really well. That one stings.”
Ville Husso made 14 saves in the Detroit loss.
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