NASHVILLE
http://www.denverbroncosteamonline.com/bradley-chubb-jersey , Tenn. (AP) Pekka Rinne showed no signs of a letdown following his milestone
300th victory.Rinne made 27 saves for his sixth shutout of the season and the
Nashville Predators earned a 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Sunday.The
Predators starting goalie moved into 33rd place on the NHL’s career win list,
passing former Nashville goalie Tomas Vokoun.The Predators won their fourth
straight game and moved into sole possession of first place in the Central
Division.The Blues lost their sixth straight.”We scored four goals, but I
thought that we had plenty more chances and good looks,” Rinne said.”The biggest
thing for me is we did a great job defensively and didn’t give them too much.
They have some very good players and had a few good looks but other than that,
we did a really good job.”Austin Watson, Colton Sissons, Kevin Fiala and Scott
Hartnell scored for the Predators. Watson has scored four goals against the
Blues in as many games this season.”Maybe I get lucky against the Blues, I don’t
know,” Watson said. ”It’s a Central Division opponent. It’s a rivalry game for
us. They always have a good team. It’s always a physical battle. I think that
gets the juices flowing a little bit.”The Blues have scored just seven goals
during their six-game losing streak and have been shut out in consecutive games.
Overall, St. Louis has not scored a goal in the past 140:24.”I think we’re
obviously a pretty frustrated group right now, having trouble scoring goals,”
Blues center Kyle Brodziak said. ”It’s tough. We’ve got to find a way. Whatever
it is we need to do – talk about it, work on things – we’ve got to find a way to
be better.”The Predators have outscored their opponents 19-5 during their
four-game winning streak. Nashville has scored a combined eight goals in the
first periods of those games, including two against the Blues on
Sunday.Nashville swept the four-game season series from St. Louis, outscoring
the Blues 13-4.”We have a pretty good rivalry with them
Womens Bradley Chubb Jersey , so any time we can kind of assert our dominance against them, we’re all for it,” Sissons said. ”We’ve been in some
tough battles with them throughout the season and years prior, but it feels good
to put them away like that at home.”The Preds grabbed a 1-0 lead just 4:45 into
the opening period when Sissons took a pass from Kyle Turris and zipped a
short-range wrist shot past Jake Allen.Nashville doubled its advantage with 5:39
left in the first when Fiala hit the 20-goal mark for the first time in his
career. Turris carried the puck in deep on a 2-on-1 break, then fired a wrist
shot past Allen to the far side.”Full credit to the guys,” Predators coach Peter
Laviolette said of the game’s 11 a.m. Central starting time.”It’s a different
scenario. You’re waking up early just to eat something that you might not want
to eat that early in the morning and getting ready for the game that warmups are
starting at 10:30. When the puck dropped, they were ready.”The Blues have found
themselves all too often trying to rally during the current losing streak.”We
can’t sit around and hope something magical is going to happen,” Blues coach
Mike Yeo said. ”We’ve put ourselves in a hole and we’ve got to get ourselves out
of it right now. It’s pretty simple.”The way to do that is number one, as
coaches, we’ll look to see what we can do adjustment-wise, making any changes we
need to make. But ultimately, it’s going to come down to work. That’s the only
way.”The Predators struck early in the second period, with Hartnell scoring a
goal for the third straight game. Calle Jarnkrok spun near the goal line and
sent a pass through the crease to Hartnell, who blocked the puck in with his
skate.The Predators added a fourth goal later in the period. Watson scored on a
short-handed breakaway attempt, putting the Predators ahead 4-0.NOTES: The
Predators traded forward Pontus Aberg to Edmonton for forward Mark
Letestu
Authentic Phillip Lindsay Jersey , then sent Letestu to Columbus for a fourth-round draft pick. … Predators forward Craig Smith picked up an assist on
the team’s second goal, extending his points streak to seven games. He has two
goals and five assists during that stretch. … Nashville is expected to add
center Mike Fisher back to the roster on Monday. … St. Louis forward Nikita
Soshnikov, acquired from Toronto for a fourth-round pick earlier this month,
made his debut for the Blues, playing on a line with Alexander Steen and Patrik
Berglund.UP NEXT:Blues: At Minnesota on Tuesday night.Predators: At Winnipeg on
Tuesday night.— NEW YORK (AP) Henrik Lundqvist raised his arms in a game-ending
celebration as if it were playoff series clincher. It likely felt that way for
the New York goalie as the Rangers snapped a brutal four-game losing
streak.Lundqvist made 28 saves in relief of Ondrej Pavelec, who injured his knee
during the first period of an eventual 4-3 victory over the Calgary Flames on
Friday night.Lundqvist replaced Pavelec to start the second and made 19 saves
that period then stopped all nine shots in the third to secure the win, his
team’s first since Jan. 25 at San Jose before the All-Star break. It was most
saves Lundqvist ever made in a relief appearance.”We’ve been losing a lot of
one-goal games, which means we are one play away, we are one save away, one goal
away from getting points,” said Lundqvist, who won in relief for the third time
in his 13-year career with the Rangers. ”Tonight we got that goal, we got that
save in the end to keep the lead.”Mika Zibanejad scored the go-ahead goal on a
power play at 12:41 of the third period off a cross-ice pass from J.T. Miller.
It was Zibanejad’s 16th goal of the season.The Rangers ended Calgary’s
three-game winning streak. New York had lost 10 of its last 13 games to fall out
of an Eastern Conference playoff spot.Rangers forward Rick Nash, likely to be
traded by the Feb. 26 deadline because of his expiring contract, tied it at 3 at
6:41 of the third with his 17th goal of the season. Michael Grabner and Kevin
Hayes also scored.Matthew Tkachuk put Calgary ahead 3-2 with his 18th goal of
the season at 18:27 of the second on a power play. Brett Kulak had his first NHL
goal
http://www.denverbroncosteamonline.com/phillip-lindsay-jersey , and Curtis Lazar also scored for the Flames.The Flames (28-19-8) had won the
first two games of their six-game trip, beating New Jersey 3-2 on Thursday
night. Their coach Glen Gulutzan was not happy with his team’s performance
especially seeing his team outshot 20-8 in the first period.”Just the way we
played and the way we approached the game. I thought we were terrible in the
first and took way too many penalties,” he said. ”We got what we deserved. We
weren’t ready to play.”Grabner put the Rangers ahead 2-1 at 11:52 of the second
when the puck deflected off Calgary defenseman Giordano and went past goalie
Mike Smith. Grabner has a team-high 22 goals.Lazar quickly tied the contest for
the Flames with his first of the season at 12:37, nudging the puck past
Lundqvist when the goaltender went for a poke check attempt.Hayes opened the
scoring for the Rangers, knocking in a rebound on the power-play at 7:53 of the
first period.The Rangers (26-24-5) seemed to come out with relieved purpose a
day after the organization released a letter to fans asking them to bear with a
potential rebuild ahead with the league’s trade deadline looming in just over
two weeks.Vigneault said he still believes his squad can make the playoffs –
though the roster he will be working with remains to be determined.”If I were a
player, I would be looking at the standings, seeing that we’re three points out
of the playoffs. You can be sure I’d be coming ready, coming out and working
hard,” he said. ”I think that’s what we’ve been doing.”Nash figures to be the
most prominent player to depart since his contract is expiring. The 33-year-old
forward needs two points to reach 800 in his NHL career. He scored a career-high
42 goals for the Rangers three seasons ago.Even though the Rangers outshot the
Flames so widely in the opening period, Calgary still managed the tie the
contest at 1 when Kulak scored his first NHL goal at 18:15.Vigneaul said Pavelec
would be evaluated on Saturday and any roster decisions would be determined
before the team leaves for Winnipeg and the start of a four-game trip.With
Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh out against the Flames with an upper body injury,
two defensemen made their debuts for the Rangers – Neal Pionk and John Gilmour.
Both were recalled from AHL Hartford.NOTES: The Rangers have won six straight at
home against Calgary . The teams meet again on March 2 in Calgary. … The Rangers
also continued to be without injured defensemen Marc Staal and Kevin Shattenkirk
as well as forwards Chris Kreider, Pavel Buchnevich and Jimmy Vesey . The Flames
are 15-6-5 on the road.UP NEXT:Flames: At New York Islanders on Sunday
night.Rangers: At Winnipeg on Sunday.
