Ellis Guides Preds Past Oilers in Shootout

Ryan Ellis scored in regulation and the shootout as the Nashville Predators won for the second time in as many nights.
Nashville defeated the Edmonton Oilers by a 3-2 on Friday night at Rogers Place with Ellis and James Neal finding twine in the shootout. Four points in 48 hours means the Preds sit in the First Western Conference Wild Card spot and are tied for third in the Central Division.
"We played a hard game," Ellis said. "Back-to-backs are always tough, so to come out and limit that team with how skilled they are to not many chances, battle all the way to the shootout and get those two points was a step for us. Hopefully we can keep going."

Viktor Arvidsson opened the scoring with his 11th of the campaign at 17:12 of the second before the Oilers evened the contest 41 seconds later.
In the third, Ellis floated in a shot from the blue line past Cam Talbot to put the Preds ahead again, but Milan Lucic forced overtime with a power-play goal in the final five minutes of regulation.

Alberta Sweep:
It was a two-for-two special for the Nashville Predators in 48 hours, capped off on Friday night in Edmonton. After defeating the Flames in Calgary on Thursday, the Preds did the same to the Oilers one night later, marking the second time this season, the Predators have been perfect in a back-to-back situation on the road.
"Coming in here, we talked how we wanted to do the right things in the last couple games," Ellis said. "We really bared down and started doing the right things. It's a good sign if we can keep doing that. We're confident in our game in here, and two road wins back to back is big for us."
It wasn't only the past two nights, but the road trip overall that has led to three wins in four tries, and plenty of confidence for the Predators.
"I've liked every game on the road trip so far," Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. "Starting with the Colorado game, the guys have played really well, so tonight was just an extension of it. What's impressive about it is when you play the night before sometimes you get a team sitting here waiting for you, you're in the building and you're dealing with other things, a late night, travel...and they've got a heck of a hockey team too. So for that, it was a real good effort."

P.K. Returns:
The Predators had some help against the Oilers as defenseman P.K. Subban returned to the lineup after missing 16 games with an upper-body injury. And there sure weren't any visible signs of rust.
"I felt OK, it's been about five, maybe six weeks that I've been in a game, so it's been a while but I felt pretty comfortable out there," Subban said. "I think sometimes I could've done a little bit more, but I just wanted to keep the game simple today and get my feet under me and just build slowly. So when our team is playing as well as they are, there's no need for anybody to do anything special."
Subban fired three shots on goal, blocked two shots and was a +1 in 22:53 minutes of time on ice.

Winner, Winner:
The final goal off the stick of Ryan Ellis in the past two nights won't count in his personal stat column, but it was by far the most important.
Ellis scored what proved to be the game winner in the shootout for Nashville, essentially adding up to his fourth goal in the past two nights. He finished with three to his credit overall, including Nashville's second goal of the night to give them a 2-1 lead in the third.
It marks the first time in Ellis' career he's registered three goals over the course of two games, playing a large part in Nashville's back-to-back sweep.
"He was excellent. He's money," Laviolette said if Ellis. "He can play any zone, any minutes, against any opponent and deliver big performances. He was unbelievable."

Notes:
Prior to Friday's game, the Predators assigned defenseman Alexandre Carrier to Milwaukee of the AHL. Carrier skated in his first two NHL games this week in Vancouver and Calgary.
Pekka Rinne improved his record to 7-0-0 in his last seven starts against the Oilers.
The Predators are almost set to return to Nashville, and they'll conclude their five-game road trip on Sunday night in Minnesota against the Wild.