In Brooklyn Monday night, the Nashville Predators ended their game before their rivals in the Western Conference had finished and they took care of business without having to scoreboard watch.
The Preds took a 3-1 win on goals from Kevin Fiala, Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan
Johansen over the New York Islanders.
Nashville has won four straight now and seven of their last eight games.
“All of us are on the same page,” Johansen said. “We’re playing a team game. You look at all the teams that are successful at this time of the year, and in the postseason it’s the depth of your team that comes out and we’ve got a lot of guys stepping up.”
Juuse Saros made 24 saves to get the win for the Predators.
“I thought we dictated the pace early on,” Johansen said. “From the way it looked on the bench and out on the ice, it felt like we had the speed and they were trying to keep up with us.”
Josh Bailey scored the lone goal for the Isles.
Nashville outshot the Islanders 31-25 and forced 18 giveaways on the night and won 60% of the faceoffs.
“The main thing for us tonight was defense. We had some chances. Their goaltending was good as well, but we got enough to win and our defensive side of the game was great. … If we’re going to be successful going forward, it’s going to have to be the same way,” Nashville’s Ryan Ellis said.
WATCH: All Predators vs. Islanders highlights
The Islanders are finding home to be an uncomfortable place to play with five straight losses in Brooklyn.
“Just pizzazz, you know, that jump,” Islanders head coach Doug Weight said of the recent woes in general and on home ice. “I’ve been through it [as a player] where you have to be at the top of your level for the last 4-6 weeks, trying to make the playoffs and every game is a playoff game. It’s tough. We’ve got to find a way to dig deeper and try to put games together.”
Thomas Greiss made 28 saves in taking the loss as the Isles dropped to 35-28-12.

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