Duchene Tallies Twice as Preds Conclude Homestand with Win Over Red Wings

Matt Duchene scored twice as the Nashville Predators defeated the Detroit Red Wings by a 4-1 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds two straight triumphs to conclude their three-game homestand and sees them reach the 55-point mark on the season.
Nick Cousins and Filip Forsberg also found the back of the net in the win, Matt Tennyson recorded a pair of assists and Juuse Saros stopped 28 shots for his 22nd victory of the campaign as the Predators got back to the small details that produce big results once more.

Neither team was able to find the scoreboard in the game's first 32 minutes, but in the latter half of the second stanza, Cousins converted on the power play to give the Preds a 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, Duchene combined with Filip Forsberg for a give-and-go, and No. 95 in Gold finished it off for his 18th of the season and a two-goal lead. Before the period was out, however, Adam Erne received a pass fresh out of the penalty box and beat Saros on a breakaway to give the Red Wings life before the middle frame was out.

That was as close as Detroit came on the evening however, and midway through the third, Forsberg gave the Preds their two-goal lead back when he finished off a rebound in front and beat Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic before Duchene iced it with an empty-netter to finish the night off.
Forsberg's tally was his 20th of the season, the seventh time he's hit the mark in his career and a Predators franchise record. Duchene's three-point game was his fifth since joining the Predators in 2019-20 - only Roman Josi (8) has more with Nashville over that span.

Saturday Storyline:

The homestand sure finished better than it started.
A 4-1 loss to Buffalo last Tuesday seems much further back than five days, and two victories - a 5-2 win over Vancouver on Thursday followed up by a 4-1 result on this occasion - to close up the week has the Predators back to their winning ways.
"[I'm] really proud of our guys," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "This stretch, I think it was seven games in 12 days, and coming home [with] a big crowd here on a Saturday night, I thought the guys really, at the end of the stretch here, came out strong… Just proud of the fact that guys were able to grind through this stretch of games and find a way to win. It's always nice when you're able to come home and win in our home building, and for the guys to be able to grind the way that they did the last week or so is really a credit to them, just their mental toughness, their fortitude, their desire, and tonight was a good, strong effort."

"We had some areas we wanted to improve on, and we worked on that," Duchene said. "The last two [games] have been good, and tonight [we played] a team that's really stingy, plays a really good systematic game and tries to take your momentum away and slow you up. We did a good job just being patient. The first half of the game was a bit of a snore, I'm sure everyone watching felt the same, but we were able to power through and get a goal - and getting the lead was big because they had to open up a little bit more and try and provide more offense. So, I thought we did a good job being patient and special teams were big for us tonight."
A three-point outing from Duchene certainly helped the cause on Saturday, and his line along with Forsberg and Mikael Granlund helped to lead the way, as they do in most outings.
"The three of them are really smart offensive players," Hynes said. "They're playing the game the right way, they're getting themselves opportunities to be able to score, and because they've played the right way, they've earned the ice time that they're getting, they've earned the situation's that they're getting and it all works hand in hand… They have a lot of confidence in the trio of them together, and that's what you need. You need players like that, that we expect to be able to help drive our team, to help be able to produce offense. They have the ability to make big plays at key times and they've done that for us quite a bit this year."

The Predators also have their confidence back as a group - not that they ever really lost it - but especially now with another win streak to their credit, things are back on the upswing once more.
That's exactly how this team likes it, and as Hynes said, the synergy among the Preds only continues to grow as the month of January begins to wind down.
"I just think defensively we've been a lot better," Cousins said. "I think our D are doing a better job of killing plays and our forwards are doing a better job of reloading and giving our D a chance to stand up and have better gaps. With that, it's given us a chance to play a little bit quicker in our own zone and turn the tide and play a little bit more in the O-zone. I think there's still a lot we can work on - we get a day off tomorrow to regroup and have a good practice on Monday and then go out on the road."
"As the League continues to get harder and you come down the stretch here … it's important for us [to keep playing this way]," Hynes said. "We feel like we have a talented team offensively when we play the right way, but as we continue to go through, you have to be solid defensively and you have to make sure that you're paying attention to details. To the guys' credit they've done that the last couple games."

Highlight of the Night:

They Said It:

Matt Duchene on finding success at home with more regularity once more:
"I just think we're the best team we've been in three years, and I think that just followed suit. We've been a pretty darn good road team, but playing at home is something we've improved upon. For a while there, we felt maybe some undue pressure to play well at home, win games at home, rather than just approaching it the same as we approach it on the road. And I think there was a big emphasis a couple years ago of how we were losing a lot on Saturday nights, and at home, and I think we kind of maybe let that get in our head a bit and we got down and started worrying about the result rather than the process. So, I think we've done a really good job just sticking with it and treating every game the same, whether we're home or on the road."

Notes:

Prior to Saturday's game, the Predators placed forward Eeli Tolvanen on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list. Forward Cole Smith and defenseman Matt Tennyson were recalled from the taxi squad and dressed for Nashville, while blueliners Ben Harpur and Philippe Myers were scratched.
With their homestand now complete, the Predators will travel to Seattle for the first time in franchise history to face the Kraken on Saturday night to begin a two-game trip.