*Photo from the Kileen Daily Herald*
So much for a happy return to action. Roman Josi had 3 assists, Ryan O'Reilly had a goal and two assists, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Dallas Stars with a 6-3 victory on Friday night in Dallas.
The Predators secured their 4th win in 6 games by knocking off the Stars, sitting at 23-18-1 on the season. In addition to 3 point games from Josi and O'Reilly, Filip Forsberg also added a goal and an assist for the Nashville attack.
Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said "I thought we were really good. Besides the first five minutes of the game, I thought we did all things we like to do. I don’t think we gave them a lot of space. We nullified their rush game. In the third period, we made it a little harder on ourselves than needed, but it was a great 20-man effort. Everybody was pulling their own tonight."
After a scoreless first period, Jeremy Lauzon got the Predators a 1-0 lead 9:22 into the second period on his 4th goal of the season. Tommy Novak added his 7th to make it 2-0. Jani Hakanpaa scored 1:09 into the 3rd period for the Stars to make it a 2-1 game. At the 3:41 mark of the 3rd, O'Reilly scored to make it 3-1 with Forsberg getting the lone assist.
Wyatt Johnston scored at the 8:11 mark of the period for the Stars to cut the deficit to 3-2. Forsberg scored on the power play to make it 4-2 before Matt Duchene added a power play goal of his own to make it 4-3. Gustav Nyquist and Juuso Parssinen both scored empty net goals for Nashville to make it a 6-3 final.
O'Reilly said of the win that "Obviously, that's a big win for us. I thought we started the game a little slow, but we kind of weathered the storm. Going into that third period, we stuck with it. It was positive we just kept working to get a huge win like that."
With the Predators playing the first half of a back to back, Kevin Lankinen made the start in goal. Lankinen stopped 19 of the 22 shots the Stars had, which was good for a .864 save percentage to improve his record to 6-3-0 with the win.
Getting the start for the Stars and making his return from injury was Jake Oettinger, who got stuck with the loss as his record fell to 11-8-2. Oettinger made 32 saves out of the 36 shots on goal the Predators had, giving him a .889 save percentage.
Oettinger said of his return that "I was just happy to get back in there. Two good teams, close game. Things I can definitely be better at, some good stuff I did. Just move on and take the good and learn from the bad. Felt confident going into tonight. Going to look at some tape and work on some stuff, but overall, I feel like I did some good stuff that will help me down the road."
Both teams play the second end of a back to back on Saturday night. The Predators welcome the New York Islanders to town as Juuse Saros is set to get the start. The Stars head to Chicago for a matchup with the Chicago Blackhawks, with Scott Wedgewood the likely starter.
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