Glendale, AZ – The Nashville Predators ^[1] had no answer for the Phoenix Coyotes defense as they get shutout Monday night 4-0 at Jobing.com Arena. The Predators fall to 1-2-3 for the season.

Nashville game out strong in early goings of the first period. However, a Predator turnover forced by Keith Yandle led to Nick Johnson sending the puck to Antoine Vermette who got a wrist shot past Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne for the score at 3:00 in the 1st.The steam seemed to come out of the Preds at that point and the Coyotes increased their defensive pressure with the lead.

Phoenix scored again at 16:48 in the 2nd period when Rinne blocked a shot, but Boyd Gordon gathered the rebound sending it over to Lauri Korpikoski who sent the puck over Rinne into the net making it 2-0.

Behind 2-0, Nashville started to take some chances in the 3rd that cost them. Phoenix broke up a Predators play on one end that led to Nick Johnson getting a wrist shot past Rinne at 11:34 to make it a 3-0 game.

The Predators had been good shutting down the Coyotes powerplays until late in the 3rd when Keith Yandle hit a slap shot from the blue line behind Rinne to give Phoenix a 4-0 advantage at 15:02.

Phoenix’s Chad Johnson was the winning goaltender making 22 saves to record his 2nd NHL win, first win for Coyotes and his first career NHL shutout.

Nashville’s Pekka Rinne, who got little help tonight, made 21 saves.

It will be interesting to see what Predators coach Barry Trotz does with a day off to get some offense going. Will we see more line changes or will he pull a young player from the Milwaukee Admirals to shake things up.

Its not going to get an easier for the Predators as they face the Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, and St. Louis Blues, before playing another home game in Nashville, TN.

Next Game

The Nashville Predators visit the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings Thursday, January 31st at the Stables Center. The puck hits ice at 9:30pm.

Box Score