*Photo from TSN*
Viva La-Nashville? Roman Josi had two assists, Cole Smith scored the game winning goal, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Vegas Golden Knights with a 5-3 victory on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
The Predators won their second straight game, the first time they've won consecutive games since January 12 and 13. Josi and Ryan McDonagh led the team on the scoresheet with two assists each while Tommy Novak scored a goal for the 4th time in 5 games.
Josi said after the game that "You need depth in this league. There's so many good teams so many teams with depth. So you need scoring from all four lines. I thought everyone did a great job. Every line did their part tonight, and I think that's why we're successful."
Luke Evangelista scored 5:35 into the game, giving the Predators a 1-0 lead on his 11th goal of the season. At the 14:09 mark of the first period, Alex Pietrangelo scored for the Golden Knights to tie it 1-1. Cody Glass scored in the last minute of the period to make it 2-1 Nashville. Novak made it a 3-1 game 8:04 into the second period on his 12th goal of the season.
Smith scored at the 15:58 mark of the second to push the Nashville lead to 4-1. Just 47 seconds into the 3rd period, William Karlsson scored on the power play for Vegas, cutting the deficit to 4-2. Michael Amadio scored his 9th goal of the season to make it a 4-3 game before Gustav Nyquist sealed the Nashville win with an empty net goal.
In between the pipes for the Predators was Kevin Lankinen, who got the win in his first start since January 27. Lankinen stopped 23 of the 26 shots he faced from the Vegas attack, good for a .885 save percentage as his record improved to 7-4-0 in 11 starts.
Nashville head coach Andrew Brunette said "He was awesome. He was everything you asked for and more on the performance side. We talked about it all year that secondary scoring is going to be invaluable for us. For them to contribute, hopefully they feel good about themselves, and they can build off."
Getting the start in net for the Golden Knights was Adin Hill, who took the loss at home as his record dropped to 14-5-2 in 22 starts. Hill turned aside 35 out of the 39 shots on goal the Predators sent his way, recording a .897 save percentage.
Pietrangelo said of the loss that "We just need to be better at home. That’s a team that lost big last week, so you know, they're going to come out. They’re fighting for playoff spot, and so are we. So I just think we need a little bit more. I know it's back to back, but we needed a little bit more tonight."
Both teams get back in action on Thursday night. Juuse Saros is expected to start for the Predators in their road tilt against the Los Angeles Kings, while Hill is the Golden Knights projected starter as they host the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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