Daws makes 29 saves, Devils blank Predators

NASHVILLE -- Nico Daws made 29 saves for his first NHL shutout, and Nico Hischier had three assists for the New Jersey Devils in a 5-0 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Sunday.

“I do believe that a shutout, it’s a team stat,” Daws said. “Somebody, I think it was [Devils forward Timo Meier], blocked a wide-open net tonight. We had guys eating pucks all night, so I don’t get it done by myself.”

Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist, and Luke Hughes and Jesper Bratt each had two assists for the Devils (32-21-6), who had lost two of their past three, including 4-2 to the Dallas Stars on Saturday.

Justus Annunen made 31 saves for the Predators (20-29-7), who had won their past two games, including 2-1 against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.

“It’s one of the toughest years I’ve been a part of, coming in with so much expectation and just not living up to it,” Nashville forward Ryan O'Reilly said. “It hasn’t been fun, but we still have a lot of hockey left. We have to try to build something here, and we’re not going to quit. It’s going to be on us leaders. We have to step up and find a way to generate something.”

Ondrej Palat gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 13:45 of the first period with a one-timer from between the circles off a cross-slot pass from Luke Hughes.

“The effort I really liked, for sure,” Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I don’t know that our whole overall game was quite as crisp and smooth quite honestly, but Nashville did a good job and probably won a little more of the territorial battle that we won last night. With that said, the effort was good. Obviously, we just kept adding to our lead throughout. Little things were great tonight. The penalty kill was perfect, power play gets the goal, [Daws] was incredible. All those things add up and you get on the right side of it.”

Hamilton made it 2-0 at 9:14 of the second period with a one-timer from a tight angle in the bottom of the right circle off a pass from Hischier.

“I think they probably outplayed us, and we were the team that scored the goals,” Hamilton said. “Especially in the start, and then we kind of took it over when we started scoring more. But [Daws] was unreal. We gave up some chances, some looks, and they were playing hard. We just capitalized on some chances.”

Seamus Casey pushed it to 3-0 at 14:28 of the second period on a wrist shot from the point that got through traffic and beat Annunen blocker side.

“I think it was a good play from [Jack and Luke Hughes], and it found its way home,” Casey said. “I don’t know if there’s any tricks to it but just got a lucky shot.”

Stefan Noesen made it 4-0 at 5:06 of the third period, taking a touch pass from Hischier at the goal line and scoring with one-timer from the right hash marks on the power play.

Tomas Tatar pushed it to 5-0 at 9:27 when his wrist shot from the slot went in off Predators defenseman Andreas Englund.

“We know as a group we’re going to get our looks, get our opportunities as we did tonight,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “We just can’t give it the other way too much, especially with where we’re at on the back end. We’ve got to protect our defensemen, protect our goalie. We didn’t do that enough tonight.”

NOTES: Bratt has 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) during a 10-game point streak. ... Jack Hughes finished with an assist and eight shots on goal in 17:10 of ice time. He has recorded at least one point (seven goals, eight assists) in 10 consecutive road games dating to Jan. 4, becoming the first player in Devils history with such a streak. … Predators forward Mark Jankowski did not play in the third period. He returned Saturday after missing the past nine games with an upper-body injury. There was no update after the game. … Nashville forward Jonathan Marchessault had a four-game point streak end. … The Predators have been shut out eight times this season.