NEWARK, NJ – On Thursday night, Pekka Rinne was perfect for the Nashville Predators as he made 27 saves to backstop the Preds to a 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils.
Nashville has found another gear of late and gone 6-0-2.
“I think we’ve kind of put our head down,” the Preds’ Craig Smith said. “I mean we’ve racked up quite a few points here coming off of our [six-day] break (five games ago), and I don’t think anybody really knows it. The next game is the most important. Guys have done a good job of taking some ownership of their own game and just keeping it within that. The results are going to come.”
Conversely, the Devils lost their fourth straight on Thursday.
“This has gone on too long,” the Devils’ Brian Boyle said. “We haven’t scored a goal at home, and it’s a bad taste in our mouth for a few days. It’s extremely, extremely frustrating when we have some injuries to not be able to produce and to not be able as an individual to try and raise the game and will our way to some offense or a win. It’s just a lot of missed opportunities.”
P.K. Subban broke a scoreless tie midway through the second period with a strike.
“Of the last 14 points, I think we’ve collected 13 of them so that’s a good streak,” Rinne said. “A strong finish before the little (All-Star) break, but now the season really starts. We’ve got to be happy with the way we’ve been playing.”
Mattias Ekholm and Viktor Arvidsson scored in the third period to stretch the elad out.
“I think we’ve always been good defensively and played hard and tough, and I feel like we have good offense too,” Arvidsson said. “We kind of mix it up, and I feel like we’re doing a great job right now.”
Nashville improved to 29-11-7 with the win.
“I thought we got a lot of good looks. I thought we stayed with it. We tried to really take care of the puck in the middle. We were trying to just take care of it, use the outside, use speed and try and get it behind them because their lock is tough to get through,” Smith said after the win.
[WATCH:Â All Predators vs. Devils highlights]
The Devils started rookie Ken Appleby in his first NHL game and he made 24 saves in taking the loss.
“He was in control, he’s calm, he’s confident it looks like,” Boyle said. “He’s a big boy and he’s got a great attitude. He’s played well and he deserves better.”
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