Duchene, Predators end Devils' 8-game point streak

NASHVILLE -- Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist, and the Nashville Predators held on for a 6-4 win against the New Jersey Devils at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Filip Forsberg scored, Juuso Parssinen and Colton Sissons each had two assists, and Juuse Saros made 35 saves for the Predators (24-18-6), who have rallied in each of their past three games, including a 5-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday and a 2-1 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
"I think wins like that really give you a lot of confidence," Nashville captain Roman Josi said. "You see what it takes to win, you see how we have to play to win. Those are three really good teams. To get the win the way we did definitely gives you some confidence."
Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist, and Dougie Hamilton had three assists for the Devils (31-13-4), who lost in regulation for the first time since Jan. 5 (7-1-1). Mackenzie Blackwood made 35 saves.
"I thought it started with our puck play, our puck management wasn't good," New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. "If you look at a couple of the goals, we handed them pucks. The first period wasn't the way we wanted to play, but I thought the second period we were starting to hit our stride until we turned another puck over in our zone. And that has been an area of our strength; tonight it was a weakness."
Duchene gave the Predators a 4-3 lead at 8:49 of the third period when he followed up his own shot.
"We did a good really good job in our structure in the neutral zone, kind of forcing a turnover," Duchene said. "[Josi] made a good little play to me. I kind of had a little daylight, [and the] goalie made a good first save; he kind of read where I was shooting. I was just fortunate to be able to bang the next one in. It was a little bit ugly, but it doesn't really matter how they go in, just the fact they do."

Forsberg extended it to 5-3 at 16:05, scoring glove side on a breakaway after receiving a stretch pass from Duchene.
"I think we just kept attacking," Josi said. "Obviously, they're a great team. They're dangerous offensively, they're fast. But we felt like we kept pushing and had some good looks. That [Duchene] goal obviously was huge and then another [by Forsberg]. But I thought we did a good job attacking and being confident and trying to go win it."
Dawson Mercer cut it to 5-4 at 17:46 when he scored from the left face-off circle with Saros out of position before Tanner Jeannot restored the two-goal lead with an empty-net goal at 19:52 for the 6-4 final.
"We didn't deserve to win that game," Devils captain Nico Hischier said. "If you give [up] that many odd-man rushes, and even that many breakaways, you're doing something wrong. It's that simple. We did not deserve to win that game tonight."

Jesper Bratt gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 10:19 of the first period after receiving a stretch pass from Hamilton before faking a shot and scoring five-hole.
Cody Glass tied it 1-1 at 12:24, banging in a loose puck following a shot by Tommy Novak on a power play.
Yegor Sharangovich made it 2-1 at 15:57 after Hughes cut through the defense and passed to him for a one-timer from the left circle but Cole Smith tied it 23 seconds later, redirecting a shot by Parssinen to make it 2-2 at 16:20.
Nashville had a season-high 22 shots on goal in the first period. New Jersey had eight.
"[Blackwood] was good tonight. You just ask for a chance to be in the game," Devils defenseman Ryan Graves said. "They outshot us and, I don't know, but I would assume out-chanced us. He was good. He gave us a chance to win so we need to be better for him."
Hughes made it 3-2 at 4:06 of the second period, tapping in a rebound in front. It was his 31st goal of the season and extended his point streak to seven games (five goals, eight assists).

Mikael Granlund tied it 3-3 at 11:33 when he scored on a rebound after Ryan Johansen intercepted a pass by Graves intended for Hischier in the Devils zone.
"I think the ability to respond is obviously important and it was a factor tonight," Predators coach John Hynes said. "But tonight I felt like for basically most of the game we were in control of the game, but we weren't in control of the scoreboard at times. … I think if we're going to be able to continue to play the right way and do the right things, we're going to be able to put the puck in the back of the net."
NOTES:The Predators have not lost to the Devils in regulation since March 3, 2015. ... Hamilton has three consecutive multipoint games (three goals, four assists). … Hughes extended his assist streak to four games (five assists) and has a career-high 31 assists. He has 21 multipoint games in 48 games this season, surpassing Patrik Sundstrom (18 in 49 games in 1988-89) for the most by a player in Devils/Colorado Rockies/Kansas City Scouts history before their 50th game. … Predators defenseman Alexandre Carrier will miss 4-6 weeks after sustaining an upper-body injury Tuesday. Defenseman Kevin Gravel, recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League earlier Thursday, had four shots on goal, two hits and three blocked shots in 11:12 of ice time.