Matt Murray made 23 saves for Pittsburgh, which had its three-game winning streak end. It has lost its past three home games.
"I thought we battled hard," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "We had a lot of quality scoring chances, especially in the first period. I thought we had some really good chances in the first period. ... Usually when we get those kind of looks we score. We come out after those first 20 minutes down a goal, but that's the game. You can't always control whether it goes in the net."
Craig Smith and P.K. Subban each had a goal and an assist, Viktor Arvidsson scored his 100th NHL goal, and Pekka Rinne made 42 saves for the Predators, who are 5-1-1 in their past seven games after losing four of their previous six.
Smith gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 1:35 of the first period. With his back to the play, Smith deflected a shot from Matt Irwin blocker side for his 20th goal of the season.
Arvidsson made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 17:36 of the second period. He took a snap shot through Penguins defenseman Erik Gudbranson's legs glove side from the left face-off circle for his 32nd goal of the season, which set an NHL career high.