Nashville, TN – The Nashville Predators had their way with the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs tonight, pitching a shutout, 3-0. Newly acquired forward Wayne Simmonds scored his first goal as a Predator and Pekka Rinne stood tall in net, as Nashville shutout the Leafs for the second time this season.
Brian Boyle got things started for Nashville at 4:47 of the first period when he and Craig Smith pulled off the classic “give and go” to perfection, ripping the puck past Toronto goalie, Frederik Andersen for the early 1-0 lead.
Nashville would take that lead into the first intermission.
At 9:13 of the final frame, Wayne Simmonds took a beautiful cross ice pass from Ryan Ellis who slipped the puck into the goal for his first goal as a Predator, and Nashville led 2-0.
Then it was just a matter of cleaning up the game from that point. Toronto pulled their goalie with just over three minutes remaining in the contest, but to no avail.
At 17:51, Filip Forsberg would close the deal for Nashville with the empty netter and your final score, 3-0.
Nashville trails the Winnipeg Jets in the central division of the Western Conference by just one point and will travel to Winnipeg on Saturday night on what could be a pivotal game to decide the winner of the division.
Nashville will host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night, with the puck drop at 7:00pm.
