Nashville Predators center Filip Forsberg draws a penalty on Winnipeg Jets right winger Drew Stafford during the second period at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.
Agencies/Los Angeles
The Nashville Predators went out Thursday and beat the Jets 3-1 for their fourth straight win, becoming the NHL’s first team to 80 points and maintaining their three-point lead atop the standings.
‘’You never know who you’re going to face in the first round, it’s so tight in the standings,’’ Predators goalie Pekka Rinne said. ‘’You try to show up every single night and just be ready for it, and I guess in the back of your head kind of make them think they don’t want to play us in the playoffs.’’
Filip Forsberg set the franchise rookie record with his 19th goal this season, topping the mark by Alexander Radulov in 2006-07. His power-play goal put Nashville up 2-1 in the second period, and he also had an assist. Shea Weber had a goal and two assists, James Neal had a goal, and Roman Josi added two assists.
Rinne made 32 saves for his league-best 32nd win. The goalie is 13-1-1 in his past 15 games for the Predators.
‘’I’m thinking I see it all, but he just surprises me every night how good he is,’’ Forsberg said of Rinne. ‘’So it’s an honor to have him on our team.’’
Michael Frolik scored for the Jets. Winnipeg snapped a two-game winning streak in its first game with defenseman Tyler Myers and forward Drew Stafford following Wednesday’s trade that sent Evander Kane to Buffalo. Stafford said he felt a little rusty. But he likes the swagger he has found with the Jets and said he is grateful to be a part of this team.
But the Jets couldn’t crack Rinne. ‘’Their goalie played out of his mind and we hit a bunch of posts, and so we were close but unfortunately it slipped away,’’ Stafford said.
Elsewhere, The St. Louis Blues scored twice in the first five minutes, then added three quick goals in the second period en route to a win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
St. Louis (36-15-4) got a goal and two assists from left winger Alexander Steen in jumping out to a 5-1 lead, with Lightning goalie Ben Bishop giving up a season-high five goals and leaving after two periods.
The Lightning added goals from right wing Brett Connolly and center Steven Stamkos (his 29th) to pull within 5-3.
Tampa Bay pulled its second goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy, with 90 seconds left, and Blues right winger Vladimir Tarasenko scored an empty-net goal with 1:05 left for the final margin. Tarasenko also has 29 goals this season.