Predators push streak to 14 games Josi hits for double in third period

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The Predators are bound and determined this late in the season to make a statement, and reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

On Saturday night, the Preds took a 4-1 win over the Kraken  in Seattle.  Nashville is five points clear of the Vegas Golden Knights for the first wild card spot.

The win pushed the Predators point streak to 14 games.

Roman Josi hit for a double in the third period, after the Kraken had tied the game, 1-1.

“It’s the reason he’s probably the… in my opinion, the world’s best defenseman,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “He just does stuff like he did today and takes over games. And we lean on him all the time for his play and for his leadership.”

Juuse Saros made 23 saves in the win.

Nashville improved to 39-25-4, and are 12-0-2 over their streak.

“For us, it’s just more of a focus on us on our identity and how we have to play to sustain this kind of streak run or this high level of play,” Brunette said. “We’re just moving straight forward. We’re not looking behind us, and we’re trying to get better every day and keep building and growing our game.”

Nashville took a 1-0 lad in the first period on a strike by Tommy Novak at 15:36,

The Kraken dropped to 28-26-12 .

“[The Predators] were good tonight,” Seattle’s Kailer Yamamoto said. “They were quick on our ‘D,’ really good on breakouts. I felt like we couldn’t get too much O-zone pressure on them.”

In the third period, Andre Burakovsky  tied the game, 1-1, at 1:24, hitting off the power play.

“We battled back at the start of the third period to make it a 1-1 hockey game on a good power play,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We felt like we were in a good spot at that point.”

Josi hit for his first of the period at 3:59, scoring off a power play.

“It was a good play,” Josi said. “We kind of got them low, ‘Fil’ made a great play in front of the net, and he almost scored himself. And the puck was kind of bouncing all over the place. I was thinking about a pass first, but I felt like there was so much traffic in front, and I just tried to get it through.”

Josi collected his double at at 9:03 for a 3-1 lead to the Preds, scoring off a shot from the point.

“It was the kind of play that we always try to set up a lot off the face-off,” Josi said. “Jankowski did a great job, won it clean, and I think the goalie didn’t see it much, so we had a good screen, too.”

Filip Forsberg hit an empty net at 18:40 for the 4-1 final.

“It’s always nice to get assists when you just win the face-off. When you’ve got a guy like that back there who can rip the puck like he does, if you can win the face-off, usually good things will happen with him back there, Nashville’s Mark Jankowski said: ”

Forsberg scored into an empty net at 18:40 for the 4-1 final.

Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves in the loss.