The Predators got a little right Tuesday night with Pekka Rinne making 25 saves to backstop a 3-1 win over the visiting Ottawa Senators.
“I thought that defensively we did a really good job,” Rinne said. “They didn’t have much of anything all night. Just a solid defensive [game]. I mean, we needed that win. You could tell.”
The Nashville strikes came from Austin Watson, Ryan Ellis and Craig Smith.
“It was good for us to get back on the winning trend,” Watson said. “Always nice to come back home and play in front of our fans, we always talk about that. A really good group effort from our guys tonight.”
Zack Smith scored the lone Sens goal as they dropped to 13-15-4.
Pekka Rinne made 25 saves in win over Ottawa Tuesday – file photo courtesy of Lewis Bleman
“We’re missing six guys and I thought the guys gave everything they had,” Ottawa coach Guy Boucher said. “You could see that they were the older, more mature team, and when they got their push it was hard for us to keep up with that push. The guys fought, but we needed to get that second goal there earlier and keep it tighter.”
Nashville improved to 20-10-1.
“I thought we played predictable for each other. That was part of the game plan. I think when you’re predictable and you know what your teammates are going to do you can pretty much read off it a few seconds before the play is going to happen,” Smith said. “I thought we were able to get possession of the puck when we did have to chip. That was a big part of the game, putting pressure on them and being able to hang on to pucks.”
[WATCH: All Senators vs. Predators highlights]
Craig Anderson made 33 saves in the loss.
“Obviously we’re hoping for some guys to come back at some point. Six regulars missing, for us that’s gigantic. Hopefully maybe we get some guys back for Friday, and every guy will matter. We’ve got two days now to regroup and we’ll need it because that three in four was tough. It took a lot out of us,” Boucher said after the loss.
The Senators have played three games in four days without Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Mark Borowiecki, Matt Duchene, Bobby Ryan, Christian Jaros, and Dylan DeMelo.
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