In Nashville Thursday night, Pekka Rinne made 26 saves to guide the Predators to a 4-0 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild.
The win pushed the Preds to 6-3-1.
“Happy with the shutout,” Rinne said. “It’s not an everyday thing, so it feels good. After the first period, I thought that we regrouped and played a really solid two periods of hockey. That was enough tonight, and we played well and did what we needed to do. I think we played better defensively. I thought that was a gutsy game.”
The Wild had their two-game win streak snapped.
“Just missed assignments that shouldn’t be missed or trying to do too much, and it ends up going against us,” Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon said. “I think they should be easily correctable, but they’re also things that shouldn’t be happening.”
Miikka Salomaki scored the Preds’ first goal, and all they would need, in the second period.
Calle Jarnkrok pushed the lead to 2-0 just as the middle frame was coming to a close.
“For the most part we’ve been doing a lot better job defensively,” Rinne said. “That’s the key in this League. I feel like we have enough scoring and if we keep defending and getting to loose pucks, I feel like we have enough skill to make things happen after that.”
Craig Smith and Colton Sissons scored in the third period.
“It’s just a broken play,” Smith said. “[Bonino] made a nice pass to get it over. It happens all game, so it’s nice to get one. It was a good play by [Bonino]. He changed sides nice. I thought we sniffed all night and were able to get a couple of bounces in there as a group and create a little momentum. But overall I thought our game was great.”
[WATCH: All Wild vs. Predators highlights]
Alex Stalock took the loss on 17 saves.
“It was sort of a weird one on that play as well, and after that I thought we started to maybe press a bit too much and turn pucks over,” Spurgeon said. “And then I think halfway through the second it started to become more of an even game. Obviously that one in the last 30 seconds isn’t ideal, going into the third thinking you’re going to be down by one and it ends up being two. It’s a lot harder to come back from that for sure. I thought we had a couple chances in the third, but again defensive miscues and they’re in our net.”
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