Nashville, TN – The Nashville Predators broke their home ice losing streak to defeat the Las Vegas Golden Knights, 4-1, at Bridgestone Arena.
Ryan Hartman led the Preds with his two goal effort, that gave Nashville all they would need on the night.
The Predators had struggled this season at home, where their only three losses had occurred in Nashville. The Predators outshot the Golden Knights, 28-24 on the night.
Reilly Smith scored the first goal of the Knight for Vegas at 17:14 of the first period when his snapshot beat Predators goalie, Juuse Saros on the high side and Vegas led 1-0.
Then Nashville’s Ryan Hartman came out in the second period and took command. His lack of offense so far this season has been something the Predators have been missing, but he made his point tonight.
Then at 11:27 of the second frame, Hartman took a pass from Kevin Fiala to beat Malcolm Subban, to tie the game at 1-1. Fiala was assisted by Roman Josi on the play.
Then just fifty seconds later, on another pass from Fiala, Hartman scored his second goal of the night, firing a “one timer” to beat Subban, and that would be all the scoring the Predators would need on the night.
The Predators would dominate the second period, turning around their lackluster first period performance. But Las Vegas wasn’t done yet.
In the third period, the Golden Knights stepped up their offensive pressure, firing shots off the posts that could have brought them even in the contest.
At 6:37 of the third period, Calle Jarnkrok silenced the Las Vegas attack when his slapshot blistered past Subban in goal for the 3-1 lead. Subban is the brother of Nashville’s P.K Subban.
Finishing up the scoring on the night, Nashville’s Viktor Arvidsson was awarded a goal on a breakaway, when he was brought down by Nick Holden of Las Vegas. Final score, 4-1, Nashville.
The Predators travel to Tampa Bay for a Thursday night matchup against the Lightning. They return home on Saturday night to host the Boston Bruins at Bridgestone Arena, for a 7:00pm start.
