Predators Start Back-to-Back Trip with Decisive 6-1 Win Over Ducks

The Nashville Predators kicked off a back-to-back road set with a decisive 6-1 defeat of the Anaheim Ducks Friday afternoon at Honda Center.
Colton Sissons scored his fourth goal of the season in the first period, going bar down to give the Predators an early 1-0 lead. The Ducks didn't have an answer until the second frame, when Urho Vaakanainen's shot through traffic deflected off Sam Carrick for a goal that tied the game at 1-1.
An unassisted goal from Yakov Trenin later in the frame put the Preds back on top with a one-goal lead. Minutes later, Filip Forsberg crashed the net and buried a loose puck to extend Nashville's lead to 3-1.
Cole Smith stripped Kevin Shattenkirk behind the net and fed the puck to Tommy Novak, who fired it in to give the Preds a 4-1 lead at 10:44 of the third period. Roman Josi scored on the power play at 15:43 to make it 5-1, and Nino Niederreiter scored his team-leading 12th goal of the game with 13 seconds remaining in the game for the 6-1 final.
Juuse Saros made 26 saves in goal for the Predators (15-14-5), who improved to 2-0-0 against Anaheim in 2022-23.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Siss Goes Top Shelf

Sissons opened the scoring at 8:06 of the first period. Per NHL PR, the Predators have now scored first 21 times this season, behind only the Dallas Stars (24 GP), Florida Panthers (24 GP), Vegas Golden Knights (23 GP) and Calgary Flames (22 GP) for the most among all teams.

No. 600 for Filthy Fil
Playing in his 600th career NHL game, Forsberg found the scoresheet three times with assists on Sissons' and Josi's goals, plus a tally of his own in the second frame.

Forsberg (483) passed Martin Erat (481) and moved into sole possession of third place on the Predators' all-time points list on Nov. 8 at Seattle. Forsberg leads Nashville in points this season with 29 (11g-18a), and he is just two points from becoming the third player in team history to reach the 500-point milestone.
Yak is Back
Trenin scored his second goal in as many games with his unassisted tally in the second period. He got the shot off the faceoff and chipped in his own rebound to break the 1-1 tie and give the Preds the lead back at 9:04.

Tommy Boy
With his third-period tally, Novak now has four points (2g-2a) in his five games with the Predators this season dating back to Dec. 19 vs. Edmonton.

O Captain, My Captain
Josi now has 26 points (8g-18a) in his last 26 games after tallying a power-play goal in the win.

The Predators captain recorded his 566th and 567th career points last Wednesday at Chicago to pass David Legwand (566) for the most in Predators history. Josi became the second defenseman to lead an active NHL franchise in points, joining Boston's Ray Bourque.
Fuel, Fire, etc.
After deflecting a centering pass from Mikael Granlund into the net with 13 seconds remaining in the game, Niederreiter extended his team lead in goals to 12.

THEY SAID IT

Forsberg on Nashville's netfront presence against Anaheim:
"That's something that we've talked about a lot, just getting bodies getting pucks there, and obviously a couple of the goals were right in the crease and [Josi's] on the power play went straight through and the goalie never saw it. So, I think that's something that we've been talking about and want to keep doing."
Coach Hynes on Nashville's netfront presence against Anaheim:
"It's something that we practice quite a bit and it was something that was a little bit deficient in our game leading up to tonight. We had spent a lot of time on offense but I thought that once we got to the net front we were there but we weren't hungry to score. And I thought tonight we were hungry to get rebounds to score, to screen the goalie. And that makes a big difference between being there versus being there with a purpose, and tonight I thought we were there with a purpose."
Forsberg on Nashville's improved play:
"It's huge. I mean, we're almost halfway through the season. So there's still a lot of hockey left, but I haven't felt like we've played our best hockey yet. And this was a step in the right direction. But as we know, you're never better than your last game in this League. So we've got to go back in and do it again tomorrow."
Sissons on Nashville's overall effort:
"We played fast. And I feel like we're executing really well and moving the puck up the ice and we made it hard on [Anaheim]. They couldn't really catch their breath through periods of the game when we're kind of rolling the lines over. So, hopefully we can continue that tomorrow [against Vegas]."
Coach Hynes on Nashville's overall effort:
"I thought from a defensive standpoint we were pretty responsible. I think [Saros] made some big saves, but I thought overall we were pretty good without the puck. And then I liked our attack game. I thought we spent a good amount of time in the offensive zone. I thought our execution up the ice was good, and we were able to generate offense in different ways, which is what we've talked about - whether that's from our forecheck, offensive zone play, being hard at the netfront - that's something that we really worked on in practice the last couple games and overall was pretty good."

UP NEXT

The Preds head to Vegas to wrap up their back-to-back road set with a matinee matchup against the Golden Knights. Puck drops at 2 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio.