The Nashville Predators will try to string together wins in consecutive games for the first time this season on Tuesday when they host the New York Islanders, who are trying to avoid their first two-game pointless streak.
Nashville rebounded from a disappointing 3-2 overtime loss in Pittsburgh on Saturday by returning home and whipping the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 on Sunday. The Predators led 5-0 with less than three minutes to go in the second period and went 4-for-7 on the power play. It was the most goals they have scored with the man advantage since getting four against the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 7, 2012.
Ryan O’Reilly scored two goals and added a pair of assists, while Steven Stamkos netted two goals, giving him a team-high seven on the season. O’Reilly is just behind his linemate with six.
Stamkos leads the club with 14 points. O’Reilly and Roman Josi have 12 each, while Filip Forsberg has 11. Forsberg and Josi each recorded three points on Sunday.
Predators coach Andrew Brunette said his top players gave “a master class” in playing with the puck. In addition, after complaining previously about having too many passengers on the team, he said win over Colorado demonstrated the team’s potential.
“This sets up … kind of the standard we’re trying to set here a little bit,” Brunette said. “We know we can’t get to it every night, but we know we can do it, and we need to bring it a little bit more each night.”
New York spent Monday in Nashville practicing races to the puck and battles along the boards. Those were a couple of the issues that cost the Islanders on Sunday in a 6-3 loss at Dallas. It was a 3-all game after two periods until the Stars pulled away in the final 20 minutes.
“(Sunday) night was not our best,” Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “So, just back to playing our right way. Managing the puck. Getting on the forecheck, all those things that have given us a chance to win games.”
Pulock, in his 12th NHL season, all with the Islanders, tallied his first point of the season with an assist against the Stars.
Bo Horvat leads the team with five goals and 12 points. Defenseman Matthew Schaefer, last season’s Calder Memorial Trophy winner as the league’s top rookie, scored his second goal of the season on Sunday and ranks second on the team with 10 points.
New York coach Peter DeBoer said that Schaefer is playing “at another level” from his breakout debut season.
“He’s physically stronger,” DeBoer said. “He’s even more assertive than he was last year. He’s got great attention to detail defensively. I think every part of his game is better than it was a year ago, and the scary part is, he’s got more levels to go to here.”
Nashville goalie Juuse Saros (3-2-3, 2.82 goals-against average, .908 save percentage) had Sunday off after making a season-high 34 saves in the overtime loss to the Penguins a day earlier. In 11 career games against the Islanders, the netminder is 9-2-0 with a 2.61 GAA and a .909 save percentage.
New York’s Ilya Sorokin (5-3-0, 2.26 GAA, .919 save percentage) made 32 saves in Dallas on Sunday but saw his personal three-game winning streak end. In seven games against the Predators, he has a 1-4-1 record with a 3.43 GAA and an .883 save percentage.