Trenin, Johansen Lead Preds to Win Over Ducks to Begin Homestand

Ryan Johansen and Yakov Trenin each tallied a goal and a helper as the Nashville Predators defeated the Anaheim Ducks by a 3-2 final on Monday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result snaps Nashville's two-game skid and gives them their 10th victory of the season to begin a three-game homestand.

The Predators struck first in their return home as Trenin dished to Johansen on a rush, and No. 92 in Gold snapped a shot past Ducks netminder John Gibson for a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.
Anaheim tied the game early in the second stanza as Rickard Rakell went top shelf on Juuse Saros, but Nashville's power play kept up its torrid pace when Mikael Granlund ripped home his fourth of the season to put the Preds back up by one after two periods.

The Ducks evened the score once more in the third period as Jamie Drysdale's shot deflected off of two Nashville defenders and past Saros, but then, with just under eight minutes to play in regulation, Trenin found himself part of a 2-on-1 break.
With Colton Sissons on his right, Trenin elected to shoot, and his top-corner attempt found twine past Gibson for Nashville's third and final goal of the night. From there, Saros and his teammates turned aside a number of late Anaheim attempts at the net before the horn sounded to end the evening.
Saros finished with 29 saves on the night for his eighth win of the campaign, and Tanner Jeannot added an assist on Johansen's goal.

Monday Storyline:

Yakov Trenin is a man of few words, but Ryan Johansen doesn't want that to fool you.
"Yak will give you all the humble answers, but it was an unbelievable play by him to create space, win all those battles up the ice and then finish it off with a beauty," Johansen said of Trenin's game-winning goal with his teammate seated right beside him. "We had some guys step up, just like that, and won a big game."
Trenin set Johansen up beautifully to start the scoring on Monday night, and then the Russian ended it with one of his own to give his club a feel-good win to start the week. For Trenin, the chances had been coming, and now with two third-period goals in his last five outings, the markers couldn't arrive at a better time.

"It felt great," Trenin said of the win. "I'm really happy with how we responded after two losses. We came out hard and got the W... It felt like I always had chances, I just couldn't put it in. And now it's going, so [I'll] keep it going."
"[He] does have some offensive skill," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said of Trenin. "Probably like Tanner [Jeannot], or even [Colton Sissons] at times, you see the abrasiveness that they play with and the size and the physicality that they play with, but the thing that makes them really effective players is that they do have offensive skill in the sense that they can score goals. They can make plays when they're available to be made, and that was another example for Trenin tonight."
Those plays from Trenin were major contributors to an overall game that delivered a dose of satisfaction after a pair of losses on the road last week, and Nashville's bench boss saw what he was hoping for upon returning home.
"I really liked it," Hynes said of his team's overall effort. "I thought we were ready to play… We got to our game in the second period and got better, and I thought it was a hard-fought battle. Anaheim's a good team, I thought we stuck with it, but we got better as the game had gone on. Special teams were a major factor - both of them were really good - and I liked our compete, I liked our toughness and it's a good win; a good win against a really good team, good start to the homestand."
"I don't think it was a perfect game by any means, but as we all know, it's really hard to win in this League," Johansen said. "We've done a lot of traveling lately and had some juice from our fans being back here tonight, and we found a way to win a hockey game."

Highlight of the Night:

They Said It:

Ryan Johansen, with Yakov Trenin seated right beside him, on what it says about Trenin's abilities that he can make a play to set up Johansen's goal and then score one of his own later on:
"It says he played a great game, and he's going to do the same thing Wednesday."

Notes:

Nashville has now earned at least a point in 10 of its last 12 games against Anaheim (7-2-3), and the Preds have won eight of their last nine home games vs. the Ducks.
Predators forward Filip Forsberg remains on Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury, but the winger participated in Monday's morning skate with his team for the first time since suffering his injury early in the month. Head Coach John Hynes said Forsberg could "possibly" play this week, but that will depend on how he adjusts back into full-speed situations with his teammates over the coming days.
Nashville's three-game homestand continues on Wednesday night when the Vegas Golden Knights come to town (7 p.m. CT), and then after Thanksgiving, the Preds will host the New Jersey Devils on Friday with a special 5 p.m. puck drop.