Rinne makes 18 saves, Predators shut out Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Pekka Rinne made 18 saves for the Nashville Predators in a 4-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.

"Great game. All in all as a team, it was a great team win," Rinne said. "Obviously defensively we played a great game, they only had 18 shots. I thought early on in the game, first and second period, they have a dangerous team but in the third period we played really solid and defended really well and were able to create more opportunities for ourselves."
Mattias Ekholm, Colton Sissons and Kevin Fiala each had a goal and an assist, and P.K. Subban scored for Nashville (26-15-3), which is 4-0-1 in its past five games after going 0-5-1 in the previous six.
WATCH: [All Predators vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
"It was a great effort. Our past two games is Preds hockey," Subban said. "That's the way we play when we're playing our best. We make it tough. That's a really good hockey team. When we came in, we thought they were a top-two, top-three team in the League, and I thought we did a good job of limiting their top players' opportunities. The past two games, our sticks have been unbelievable in all three zones, and that's a big part of the reason why we won this game."
Michael Hutchinson made 28 saves for Toronto, (27-13-2), which has lost three of its past four games.
"I thought we got a lesson from a veteran team here today," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought, really in the third period in particular, I didn't know if we thought we were going to come out and race around. They just stayed patient and were right. They were heavy on the puck, heavy on their sticks, detailed, blocked shots, competed. I liked their game."
The Predators took a 1-0 lead at 4:08 of the second period when Ekholm scored on a power play from the point.

The Maple Leafs thought they scored at 4:51 when Auston Matthews put in a cross-crease pass from Andreas Johnsson, but the goal was overturned after video review determined that their entry into the zone 26 seconds earlier was offside.
Subban made it 2-0 at 13:11. Nick Bonino cleanly won a face-off against Matthews back to Matt Irwin, who passed to Subban for a one-timer that deflected off William Nylander's stick.

Sissons scored at 17:23 to make it 3-0 before Fiala scored at 19:23 for the 4-0 final.
The Predators went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and held Toronto to one shot.

"I thought our coaches' message was really good to the players just about how to play it," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "You watch them move the puck around the way they do, there's a lot of detail that goes into it, so I thought the message was great. Ultimately it's the players; they've got to go onto the ice and execute and there wasn't a lot of opportunity coming off the power play."

They said it

"They're very selective with their shots; they don't take long shots and try to create better chances. It still felt like in the first half of the game, I thought Toronto was really good. They created some chances and made us defend, but I think the second half the game we took over and were the better team. It was one of those games where the guys made it easy for me." -- Predators goalie Pekka Rinne
"This was a real hockey game. That's a real team over there and it's something that going forward we're going to need to be ready for these games and be ready to beat those teams." -- Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner

Need to know

Predators forward Filip Forsberg returned after missing 17 games because of an upper-body injury. He had three shots in 13:54. … Babcock said he expects forward Zach Hyman will be cleared to return on Thursday against the New Jersey Devils. He has missed the past eight games because of a sprained ankle.

What's next

Predators: At the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN360, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: At the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, TSN4, NHL.TV)