NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Roman Josi and Alexandre Carrier each scored and had an assist to lead the Nashville Predators over the New Jersey Devils 4-2 on Friday night.
Philip Tomasino and Mikael Granlund also scored and Juuse Saros made 23 saves for Nashville, winners of two of three.
Andreas Johnsson and Tomas Tatar scored, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves for New Jersey, losers of two straight.
Saros was relatively untested through the first 40 minutes, turning aside two New Jersey shots in the first and seven in the second.
Josi scored the game’s first goal at 7:31 of the opening period. With the teams skating 4-on-4, Josi’s tough-angle wrist shot from the lower left circle squeezed between Blackwood's pads.
Tomasino made it 2-0 at 3:30 of the second.
From the left wall, Nick Cousins sent a centering pass to Tomasino in the slot, where he was able to get just enough of the puck to tip it past Blackwood for his fourth goal of the season.
The Predators are 8-0-0 when leading after two periods this season.
Granlund extended Nashville’s lead to 3-0 at 6:45 of the third from the low slot after taking a pass from Matt Duchene, who was below the New Jersey goal line.
Duchene has 20 points in 20 career games against the Devils.
Johnsson spoiled Saros’ shutout at 11:58 of the third, scoring his seventh of the season.
Carrier scored an empty-net goal with 1:10 remaining, and that goal was quickly followed by Tatar, who scored on a breakaway in the final minute.
BASTIAN RETURNS
One day after being claimed off waivers from the Seattle Kraken, Nate Bastian returned to New Jersey's lineup.
The Devils selected Bastian 41st overall in the 2016 draft, and he was taken by Seattle in the expansion draft prior to this season. After playing 12 games with the Kraken, Bastian was placed on waivers Wednesday and claimed by New Jersey.
JOSI 700
Josi played his 700th career NHL game, all with the Predators. Selected 38th overall in the 2008 draft, Josi won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman in 2020. He has served as Nashville’s captain since the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
He is fourth in Predators franchise history for games played. Josi trails only David Legwand (956), Shea Weber (763) and Martin Erat (723).
Josi has recorded the most points by a Swiss-born player in NHL history with 466.
WHAT’S NEXT
The Predators travel to Colorado on Saturday.
New Jersey returns home Sunday to host the Flyers.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
