Forsberg stays hot, helps Predators get past Rangers

NASHVILLE -- Filip Forsberg scored to extend his point streak to eight games for the Nashville Predators, who edged the New York Rangers for a 2-1 win at Bridgestone Arena on Sunday.

Forsberg has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) during the streak.

“We have to be aware of where everyone is with their team, but at the same time, there is no reason that we shouldn’t be more desperate than them based on everything that is going on here,” Forsberg said. “That’s something we’ve definitely got to take advantage of every single game we play.”

Justus Annunen made 16 saves for the Predators (15-16-4), who were coming off a 5-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday and are 7-3-0 in December. Ryan O'Reilly had two assists.

“We’re crawling back into this thing,” O’Reilly said. “It’s a lot more fun. Everyone is contributing. It’s exciting. It’s fun coming to the rink. It was pretty dark there for a while, it wasn’t fun by any means. It was tough, but give credit, everyone has been working hard. We’ve still got a lot of work left.”

Jonathan Quick made 30 saves for the Rangers (18-16-4), who had won two in a row, including 5-4 in a shootout against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

“I thought the first half of the first period was OK,” New York forward Mika Zibanejad said. “But after that it was just not good enough.”

Forsberg gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 10:44 of the second period, roofing a wrist shot over Quick's glove from the right circle off a nifty pass from O’Reilly.

O'Reilly has nine points (one goal, eight assists) during a seven-game point streak.

“I think breakouts are better, I think wall play is better,” Forsberg said. “Obviously, when you play [the Carolina Hurricanes] and [the Rangers], teams that have their [defensemen] really pinch down the wall, if you can get the puck by them, usually it’s a 2-on-1 the other way. I think breakouts are cleaner from our [defensemen], it’s better execution by our forwards as well. I think that’s helping, for sure. There's still room for improvement, but it’s definitely pushing in the right direction.”

Steven Stamkos scored an empty-net goal from center ice to make it 2-0 at 19:12 of the third period.

“I know we’re not the fastest skating team, but we’ve been playing fast,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “We’re putting pucks in areas that we trust, and it’s kind of building that trust that’s allowed us to get in those situations. I think at the start of the year we had a big emphasis on our defensive zone coverage and kind of lost a little bit of our way. We’ve always been historically, at least when I’ve been here, a really good rush team for opportunities. ... We’re trying to get that going here.”

Jonny Brodzinski scored 11 seconds later on the rebound of his own shot from the slot to cut it to 2-1.

“It’s disappointing because we had a couple of really high-character wins the last couple of games, and these guys have worked extremely hard,” New York coach Mike Sullivan said. “We knew this was going to be a tough game going into it, but it doesn’t make any excuses for the lack of execution. I think there’s going to be points in the schedule where every team is going to play against the schedule a little bit. This was one of them for us.”

NOTES: Rangers captain J.T. Miller did not play and is week to week after he sustained an upper-body injury during the 5-4 shootout win against the Flyers on Saturday. ... Rangers forwards Gabe Perreault and Matt Rempe each missed the game because of an illness. ... New York dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen. ... Predators forward Jonathan Marchessault missed his second straight game because of a lower-body injury.