Forsberg, Predators top Avalanche for sixth straight win

NASHVILLE -- Filip Forsberg had two goals and an assist, and the Nashville Predators won their sixth straight game, 5-2 against the Colorado Avalanche at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Tanner Jeannot and Roman Josi scored power-play goals for the Predators (18-10-1), and Juuse Saros made 23 saves. Colton Sissons had three assists.
Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin scored for the Avalanche (17-8-2), whose five-game winning streak ended. Pavel Francouz made 30 saves in his first NHL regular-season start since March 11, 2020.
Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his point streak to nine games (14 points; two goals, 12 assists).
The Predators were without seven players and their five-man coaching staff, all in NHL COVID-19 protocol.
"It was weird," Josi said. "We were just kind of sitting there [before the game]. It was kind of out of our control. But I don't think any one of us ever went through something like that. It was definitely something we've never experienced."

Five players were in COVID-19 protocol including starting goalie Darcy Kuemper for Colorado, which played two skaters short with 16.
"I just went to our players and said, 'Hey what do you guys want to do?'," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. "Like I said, `We're here to play a game.' They were shorthanded, we were shorthanded. We're not using COVID as an excuse. We're here to win a hockey game. We had plenty of capable bodies in the lineup."
Forsberg made it 1-0 at 13:23 of the first period on a wrist shot.
Jeannot extended the lead to 2-0 at 7:20 of the second period. Sissons found Jeannot in the slot for the rookie's seventh goal of the season.
Rantanen made it 2-1 with a power-play goal at 9:57 of the second period. MacKinnon's shot deflected to Rantanen, who scored his fourth goal in two games against Nashville this season.
"We came to play a hockey game here," Rantanen said. "Obviously it was kind of questions in the air during the day because guys were dropping. But we had enough guys to play a hockey game and that's what we did."
Forsberg scored his second goal to extend Nashville's lead to 3-1 at 16:48 of the second. It was Forsberg's 13th goal of the season, tying him with Matt Duchene for the team lead. He played on a line with Jeannot and Sissons.
"You see how hard those two guys work every day," Forsberg said. "The way they contribute in so many ways to this team is incredible. They play hard minutes on the penalty kill. They finish every hit. They make life miserable for the other team. When I saw they were going to play together, I was excited just to try to get on that and try to feed off their energy and do my thing mixed in with theirs."

Nichushkin scored at 9:12 of the third period to cut the Predators' lead to 3-2. But Josi's power-play goal from the slot at 12:19 of the third made it 4-2.
Mattias Ekholm scored an empty-net goal at 18:12 for the 5-2 final.
The Predators were coached by Karl Taylor, coach of their American Hockey League affiliate Milwaukee.
"This team has got the right energy, the right mentality," Taylor said. "We just tried to come in and not get in the way, make sure we just rode the wave they're on right now. Add a few things here and there, make sure they had direction, make sure we executed the game plan properly."
NOTES: Forsberg had his 24th three-point game, passing Martin Erat for the most in Predators history. … Kuemper, defensemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews, and forwards J.T. Compher and Andre Burakovsky are the Avalanche players in COVID-19 protocol. … Emergency backup goalie Dustin Smith suited up for Colorado. … The Predators recalled forwards Rocco Grimaldi, Cody Glass, Cole Smith, Mathieu Olivier and Kole Sherwood from Milwaukee. ... The seven Nashville players in COVID-19 protocol: forwards Nick Cousins, Ryan Johansen, Mikael Granlund, Philip Tomasino, Michael McCarron and Matt Luff, and defenseman Ben Harpur. … Coach John Hynes, assistants Dan Lambert, Dan Hinote and Todd Richards, and goaltending coach Ben Vanderklok are also in COVID-19 protocol for the Predators.