Trenin, Tolvanen Contribute Again as Preds Beat Devils in New Jersey

Eeli Tolvanen continued his scoring streak, and Yakov Trenin tallied what proved to be the game winner as the Nashville Predators defeated the New Jersey Devils by a 3-2 final on Friday night at the Prudential Center. The result gives the Preds a perfect 3-for-3 mark on their road trip thus far with their fourth consecutive victory overall.
Roman Josi also found the back of the net for the Predators, and goaltender Juuse Saros returned to the lineup from illness and collected his 12th victory of the season.

The Predators mustered just three shots on goal in the opening period on Friday night, but they scored almost as many goals in the second stanza. The Devils broke the ice first as Pavel Zacha beat Saros in tight, but less than two minutes later, Philip Tomasino found a wide-open Josi streaking in from the point, and Nashville's captain picked his spot and evened the score.
Then, on the man advantage late in the frame, Tolvanen blasted a shot - the first of his four straight goals that didn't come off a deflection - to give the Preds their first lead of the night through 40 minutes.
Just six minutes into the final frame, Trenin buried a rebound off a shot from Nick Cousins past Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, and although New Jersey scored once more late, Saros and the Preds held strong to earn two more points for the team's 16th win of the campaign.
With an assist as well, Josi recorded his 110th career multi-point game and tied Martin Erat (110 GP) for the second most by a Predators player in franchise history. Only David Legwand (120 GP) has more.

Friday Storyline:

Two nights, four points.
Just 24 hours after coming back to beat the Islanders with a dramatic finish in the closing seconds of regulation, the Predators traveled to New Jersey, played to their identity once more and extended their win streak to four games.
On the second half of a back-to-back, and down two key forwards in Matt Duchene and Colton Sissons - with both players missing Friday's outing with upper-body injuries - the Predators recovered from a slow start and used a team effort to earn their third triumph in as many tries on the current trip.
"The competitive nature of the group, it's at a high level and something that we've talked about," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "We have a lot of guys that are natural competitors, which is something we had talked about, and we find ways to win different games. But if you take tonight in particular; we play in Long Island last night, a heavy, hard, physical game, emotional game, win it, and we come in today, we've got two of our forwards that log big ice time, play a lot of key situations, a lot of key minutes… I just think when you look at the group that we're a highly-competitive group. The guys dig in and find ways to be able to compete the right way, and there's an identity that we play with."
Following Thursday's win, Hynes said the play of Trenin was indicative of the team's mentality - a relentless attitude with an unrelenting desire to find success. Trenin contributed to that mantra once more on Friday, still recovering from seven stitches received the night before, to score a game-winning goal and win his teammates over once more.

"Even last night, just his game, like he fights [Zdeno] Chara, who's one of the toughest guys, one of the strongest guys in the League," Preds Captain Roman Josi said of Trenin. "I mean, his jersey's above his head, he hangs in there, and then he scores that huge goal to tie it up and jumps in the glass like he always does. But I think just the way he plays, he's a team-first guy. He's such an awesome guy to have on our team. He's a great guy, and the way he plays, he's one of the reasons why we're so successful. He's hard on the forecheck, he scores goals, he does everything well for the team and he's awesome."
Much like Trenin was a star on back-to-back nights, so was Tolvanen who extended his goal streak to four games. Even when the winger wasn't putting the puck in the net, Hynes was pleased with Tolvanen's game, but ultimately, the Preds know what he's capable of offensively. Now, it's starting to come once more.
"What's nice about Tolvy is he's a young guy, and he's got good skill and he's a scorer, but I think when you look at the substance in his game, he's highly competitive and he's very consistent in the way that he plays, whether he scores or whether he doesn't score," Hynes said of Tolvanen. "It's nice to see now as of late… He's got so much substance to his game, and now he's found a different way to produce offense, too, where he's willing to get into the inside of the ice and he gets tip goals and screen goals. That's another way for a young player that wants to be and has the potential to be a scorer in this League regularly; he's finding different ways to be able to contribute. I love his talent, but I just love the character and the competitiveness of the player."

Trenin and Tolvanen have helped to lead the way over the past 48 hours, and now, the Predators have a chance to complete a perfect road trip when they face the Rangers on Sunday night. After the last three outings in hostile environments, the Preds know what needs to be done, and they'll be looking for more of the same before heading back home.
"When we talk about the identity and the structure that you want to be able to play with, when you get in situations like this, it allows you to be able to come through," Hynes said. "Over the course of this season, we've had excellent goaltending, and our special teams have done well and that's a good recipe to win. But I think number one, first and foremost, is the competitive nature and the toughness of the group has been a determining factor."

Highlight of the Night:

They Said It:

Yakov Trenin on being the talk of the town in Nashville after his last two games:
"I'm energized. I posted a picture [on Instagram after my fight with Chara] - most likes so far. It's good stuff. People send me lots of messages, like, 'Good job,' and this kind of stuff… It didn't hurt at all [to get seven stitches after the fight on Thursday]. And it was like 10 minutes [at the end of] the intermission. I was already ready and prepared for the second period."

Notes:

The Predators were without forwards Matt Duchene and Colton Sissons on Friday night, both of whom are day-to-day with respective upper-body injuries. Forward Matt Luff was recalled from Milwaukee prior to Friday's game and dressed for his first game with the Preds.
Nashville dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen due to the injury situation with Ben Harpur also participating on the backend. Philippe Myers was the lone healthy scratch for the Predators.
The Predators will remain in New York and conclude their four-game road trip on Sunday evening when they face the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.