NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Roman Josi had a goal and two assists to lead the Nashville Predators to a 6-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night that extended their winning streak to seven games.
Yakov Trenin, Cole Smith, Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Ryan McDonagh also scored, and Juuse Saros made 33 saves for the Predators. Gustav Nyquist and Colton Sissons each had two assists.
“Those are playoff-type games and there’s a lot on the line for both teams,” Josi said. “I loved the way we played. We played aggressive. Guys stepped up.”
Connor Dewar scored and Filip Gustavsson made 25 saves for Minnesota, losers of two straight.
“I thought from a competitive standpoint, we weren’t close to where we needed to be in a lot of areas of the ice,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “You could arguably say tonight we got what we deserved.”
With the victory, the Predators moved eight points ahead of the Wild in the standings as both teams pursue one of the Western Conference’s two wild-card berths.
“It’s fun to see (Josi) take over hockey games,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “I think he’s taken it to another level here in the last stretch. His leadership is coming through. He’s not maybe the most vocal guy, but he puts teams on his shoulders and does things like he did tonight.”
Dewar scored the first goal at 9:51 of the opening period. Saros got his glove on a slot shot by Brandon Duhame, but the rebound came right to Dewar, and he fired a wrist shot past Saros for his third point in as many games.
Trenin tied it 49 seconds later, tapping the puck past Gustavsson after a slick backhand pass from Josi from the right circle.
“We knew this was a very important game for us,” Gustavsson said. “This is a team we’re chasing. We didn’t show up today. Nothing worked for us.”
Smith followed 8 seconds later, scoring an unassisted goal and tying for the third-fastest consecutive goals in Nashville franchise history.
“We’re chasing that wild-card spot and so are they,” Smith said. “It’s a big division game. The way everybody played, it’s awesome.”
Forsberg gave Nashville a 3-1 lead with 2:05 remaining in the second, snapping a wrist shot from above the right faceoff circle that deflected off Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin and by Gustavsson with Nashville on a power play.
Josi scored at 1:32 of the third, extending his goal-scoring streak to three games. He has points in four straight and has four goals and four assists over that span.
O’Reilly and McDonagh also scored third-period goals.
UP NEXT
Wild: Visit St. Louis on Saturday.
Predators: Host Colorado on Saturday.
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