Roman Josi scored what ended up being the game-winning goal early in the third period and the Nashville Predators connected on both of their power-play chances to beat the visiting Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Saturday night.
Josi, Steven Stamkos and Gustav Nyquist each had a goal and an assist. Filip Forsberg and Colton Sissons also hit the back of the net as Nashville won for the fourth time in its past six outings (4-1-1). Goaltender Juuse Saros stopped 28 of 30 shots.
Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar each had a goal and an assist to extend their point streaks to 12 games apiece for the Avalanche. Justus Annunen made 20 saves.
Forward Nikita Prishchepov, 20, made his NHL debut for Colorado and had two shots on goal in 13:30 of ice time, but the Avalanche lost their third straight game (0-3-0).
Nashville outshot the Avalanche 11-8 in a first period that produced few high-danger chances, and Saros had the best save over the first 20 minutes.
At 14:42 of the frame, MacKinnon slid a cross-ice pass for a one-timer by Joel Kiviranta from about 11 feet out, but Saros shifted quickly and covered the lower area to keep the game scoreless.
The second period became messy early, as infractions by Stamkos and Forsberg sandwiched around a penalty by Colorado’s Ivan Ivan led to a four-on-three power play for the Avalanche.
Makar patiently skated in and wristed home his fifth goal of the season just 22 seconds into the man advantage, making it 1-0 at 2:54 of the second.
On the Predators’ first power play of the contest, which came after John Ludvig went off for tripping, Stamkos ripped in his second goal of the campaign at 8:31 to knot the game at 1.
Nashville went up 2-1 at 18:40 when Sissons scored from the low slot by redirecting Marc Del Gaizo’s long shot.
In the third, Josi buried his first goal of the season at 5:15 by unleashing a blast on a power play for a 3-1 advantage.
With Annunen on the bench for an extra skater, MacKinnon whipped in a backhander with 2:17 left, his sixth goal of the campaign, but Forsberg scored into an empty net 1:03 later and Nyquist added another goal in the final minute.
