ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Roman Josi scored twice to establish a career high with 17 goals for the season, leading the Nashville Predators past Minnesota 6-2 on Sunday night to spoil the start of a franchise-record nine-game homestand for the Wild.
Filip Forsberg had two goals and an assist, Philip Tomasino added a goal and an assist and Nick Cousins had a goal and two assists for Nashville (34-21-4), which tied Minnesota (34-20-4) for third place in the Central Division. St. Louis is in second, four points up. The Wild have played one fewer game than the Blues and the Predators.
Matt Boldy and Jordan Greenway scored for the Wild, who are 4-9-1 in their last 14 games. They were frequently stonewalled by Predators goalie David Rittich, who stopped 26 shots with help from Josi, the All-Star and captain, and the rest of the defensemen.
Not only did the Predators snap back from a 7-4 loss to St. Louis at home the night before and keep the Wild on their heels, they put a damper on an energetic evening at Xcel Energy Center that began with the jersey retirement ceremony for former captain and center Mikko Koivu. The native of Finland and 2001 first-round draft pick became the first player in Wild history to have his number set aside.
One of Koivu's former teammates, Mikael Granlund, joined him and Wild captain Jared Spurgeon at mid-ice for the ceremonial puck drop. Granlund sat on the visiting team bench to watch the pregame event and, a few hours later, set up Josi for an
at 2 midway through the second by taking Marcus Foligno's pass on a rush up the right wing and burying the puck past Rittich's blocker.
Merely 50 seconds later, Tomasino gave the Predators the lead again with his
Forsberg and Cousins tacked on empty-netters in the final 2 1/2 minutes. Kahkonen, who made 19 saves, started his second straight game. He is 0-5-1 in his last six starts.
BANNER DAY
In a regionally televised ceremony an hour before the opening faceoff, the Wild
Koivu was the first full-time captain in Wild history, a role he held for 11 of his 15 seasons with the club. He's the franchise's career leader in games played, assists, points, plus-minus rating and several other categories, after being drafted sixth overall in 2001 out of his native Finland.
Koivu wiped tears from his eyes several times as he watched the event and spoke to the crowd, which chanted his name more than once.
NOTES
Predators: Forsberg hit the 30-goal mark for the third time in his eight full seasons, a milestone he last reached in 2016-17.
Wild: Foligno, who was fined $5,000 for kneeing Columbus Blue Jackets forward Jakub Voracek in the game on Friday, got a five-minute major penalty for fighting Luke Kunin, his former teammate, in the first period.
UP NEXT
Predators: host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.
Wild: host the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
___
More AP NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
