NASHVILLE
http://www.losangelesramsteamonline.com/todd-gurley-ii-jersey , Tenn. (AP) — Despite their power play struggles, the Predators found a way to
take down their Central Division rival.Pekka Rinne made 29 saves to lead
Nashville to a 3-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.“I’m just
excited to play against these guys,” Rinne said. “I think that was a good
indication of how it’s going to be for the rest of the season, pretty emotional
and pretty physical games. There’s a lot of speed and a lot of skill on the
ice.”The shutout was the 52nd of Rinne’s career. Ryan Hartman had a goal and an
assist and Roman Josi and Ryan Johansen also scored for Nashville, which
improved its record on the young season to 3-1-0.“He had to make some tough
saves along the way,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “I thought he
stayed really focused and really sharp through the whole game, despite the
circumstances, really sharp from start to finish.”Connor Hellebuyck made 27
saves for the Jets, now 2-2-0.The Predators had the decided advantage in power
plays in the game but came up empty in nine opportunities, including separate
two-man advantages of 18 seconds and 1:35 in the second period. Winnipeg could
not convert on either of their two power plays in the game.“There’s not much you
can do in terms of personnel. you’ve got half your team gassed after two and
half your team frozen on the bench,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “We had half
the group drinking hot chocolate on the bench just trying to stay warm.”The
Central Division’s top two teams from a season ago met for the first time since
the Jets ousted the then defending Western Conference champion Predators in a
tough seven-game series in the second round of the playoffs.Hartman scored the
game’s first goal at 3:02 of the second period.With the puck just inside the
Nashville blue line, Jets defenseman Ben Chiarot sent an ill-advised cross-ice
pass toward partner Dustin Byfuglien. Hartman stepped in front of the pass in
stride and headed the other way. With a step on Byfuglien, Hartman shielded the
big defenseman with his hip and beat Hellebuyck with a backhand on the stick
side for the unassisted goal.“You know he’s going to try to get around to try
and get a stick pick, so you kind of bait him to one side and wait for him to
come over and bite
Authentic Cooper Kupp Jersey ,” Hartman said of his move on Byfuglien. “Then you move it to the other side. I was just trying to keep it away from
him.”Rinne’s best saves came with the Predators short-handed. The first was at
14:17 of the second when he denied an Adam Lowry attempt from the low slot, one
of just two shots the Jets put on Rinne in the middle frame. Late in the third,
Rinne turned aside a Blake Wheeler shot on a breakaway.“You get to work on your
PK,” Jets center Mark Scheifele said of the prolonged time the team spent
short-handed. “We did a good job. We made some big plays and Bucky made a lot of
big saves.”Josi doubled the Predators lead at 7:58 of the third with a slap shot
from the high slot. It was the first goal of the season for Nashville’s
captain.Johansen scored at 14:42 of the third with a nifty backhand tucked just
underneath the crossbar from just outside the crease.Notes: The Predators have
yet to score a power-play goal this season, going a combined 0-15 through four
games.
