Rinne makes 42 saves in return, Predators defeat Lightning

TAMPA -- Pekka Rinne made 42 saves to win his return to the Nashville Predators net, 4-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Thursday.

Kyle Turris, Roman Josi, Calle Jarnkrok and Miikka Salomaki scored for the Predators (10-3-0), who have the best record in the NHL. Ryan Johansen had two assists.
Rinne, who won the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL last season, missed the previous five games with an undisclosed injury.
WATCH: [All Predators vs. Lightning highlights]
"Anytime you miss time, you're a little nervous," Rinne said. "I was happy we played one of the top teams, and you have to have a mindset that you might be busy. But I felt good, and obviously we're very happy with the win."

Slater Koekkoek scored for the Lightning (8-3-1), who are first in the Eastern Conference standings. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves on 23 shots.
"We played hard, we were relentless on the puck, we were chasing the puck," Lightning forward Yanni Gourde said. "Obviously, it wasn't the result that we wanted, but we did a lot of good things tonight."
Turris gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 6:02 of the first period when Mattias Ekholm's shot deflected off his body.

Josi made it 2-0 with seven seconds remaining in the first with a one-timer from below the right face-off circle off a pass from Johansen.
"I just kind of saw him going to the net and just hoping he was going to be there," Johansen said. "It worked out nicely, I guess."
Koekkoek made it 2-1 with his first goal of the season at 14:21 of the second period. After the Lightning won a puck battle along the wall, Alex Killorn backhanded it across the slot from the right face-off circle to Koekkoek, who scored with a wrist shot inside the far post from the left dot.
"Honestly, I thought it was a good hockey game," Tampa Bay defenseman Anton Stralman said. "I thought both teams played pretty well. Unfortunately, they came into the first intermission with a 2-0 lead, and that's tough to come back from. Especially against a really good team."

Jarnkrok scored off a pass from Johansen on a 2-on-1 at 16:42 of the third period to give the Predators a 3-1 lead. Johansen intercepted a Steven Stamkos pass in the Nashville zone, skated the puck deep into the Tampa Bay zone, and passed across to Jarnkrok for a tap-in at the top of the crease.
"The two assists [Johansen] made tonight were just incredible vision and incredible skill level," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "That's who he is. There are no easy ones for him."
Salomaki made it 4-1 with an empty-net goal with 2:24 remaining.
Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. Laviolette said he is day to day.
Arvidsson is third on Nashville in scoring with 12 points (eight goals, four assists).

They said it

"I think anytime you score at the end of a period, it lifts you up; if you give one up, it could work the other way. There's a big difference between going in 1-0 or 2-0." -- Predators coach Peter Laviolette on Roman Josi's goal with six seconds left in the first period
"We had our chances. I thought we had energy. Guys played hard. We didn't give them much time and space. The goal at the end of the first period hurt." -- Lightning coach Jon Cooper

Need to know

Laviolette coached his 1,100th NHL game. ... Lightning forward Tyler Johnson played his 400th NHL game. ... Forward Rocco Grimaldi replaced Arvidsson in the Predators lineup. He had one hit and a minus-1 rating in 7:35. ... Johansen was 17-for-23 on face-offs (74.0 percent). ...Rinne improved to 8-0-1 against the Lightning. ... Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh had a game-high seven shots on goal, the most he's had since he had seven Oct. 30, 2015, for the New York Rangers against the Toronto Maple Leafs. ... It was Koekkoek's first goal in 17 games dating to Jan. 6 against the Ottawa Senators.

What's next

Predators: Host the Boston Bruins on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, NESN, NHL.TV)
Lightning: At the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN360, CITY, TVAS, SUN, NHL.TV)