Preds Get Back to Basics to Beat Senators

The home team allowed a goal just 34 seconds into Tuesday's game, but it was all positive from there.
Three different Preds found the back of the net as Nashville defeated the Ottawa Senators by a 3-1 final at Bridgestone Arena. The result ends Nashville's two-game skid and gives them their 20th win of the campaign.
After a road trip to Western Canada didn't go their way, the Preds returned home to face a Senators club also dealing with injury issues, and Nashville kept it simple to collect the satisfying victory.

"We were disappointed in poor play on the road; at times it was good, and at times it wasn't," Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis said. "Tonight, we came in and simplified a lot of errors in our game, and the result was there. If we continue with that game plan, I think we'll like the results."
"We addressed a lot of things after the last road trip," Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne said. "I felt like tonight, we played with speed, got the pucks deep, turned a lot of pucks over, and created chances. Our defense always plays a big role in our offense."
Mark Stone gave the Senators their only lead of the night less than a minute in, but in the latter portions of the first, Austin Watson redirected a Mattias Ekholm point shot for his sixth of the season and even tally through 20 minutes.

After relentless pressure to start the second, it was Ellis who blasted a shot past Craig Anderson midway through the frame to put the Preds up by one, and Craig Smith added another in the third to seal the victory.
Rinne made 25 saves to collect his 13th win of the campaign and move to 8-3-0 in 11 career starts against the Senators.
"It was good for us to get back on the winning trend, and it's always nice to come back home and play in front of our fans," Watson said. "A really good group effort from our guys tonight."

Back to Basics:
The hockey clichés were flying in the Nashville locker room after Tuesday's win, but they wouldn't be uttered if they didn't mean something.
After the Predators said they got away from their game in recent memory, they got back to what makes them successful - keeping it simple and relying on an effective system that plays to their strengths.
"That's pretty much exactly what we did; we got pucks behind them, got a better forecheck, and when we turned over pucks in their end, we started our cycle game," Ellis said. "Overall it was a good game on our part."
That, in turn, allows Nashville to prosper, no matter who is in or out of the lineup. And with four big names still on the shelf, the Preds executed the game plan to near perfection in Tuesday's triumph.

"We are missing some fire power, but as long as we stick to what we do well, we will play good and smart hockey," Watson said. "We get ourselves in trouble when we turn the puck over, too. We talk about these clichés like getting line changes and getting pucks out deep, but it really holds true for us right now."
Doing that with consistency will be key for the Preds as they'll continue to be without wingers Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson likely into the New Year. And just as they've done before in the recent stretch, the group prevailed once more for win No. 20.
"It's roughly the same group that has been here the last three to four years, so we have seen this sort of thing before," Watson said. "Guys get injured every year, it's a part of the game but I think we are well-equipped to handle it."

Notes:
Zac Rinaldo and Matt Irwin were scratched for the Predators on Tuesday.
The Preds are now 9-0-0 against the Eastern Conference this season.
Nashville continues their three-game homestand on Thursday night when the Vancouver Canucks come to town before finishing off their season series with the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.