The first period’s goal by Filip Forsberg and Tommy Novak was when host Nashville Predators snapped Winnipeg Jets ’11 game winning line with a 2-1 victory on Thursday.
Goaltender Juuse Saros made 23 rescues when Nashville finished a two-game losing ski, without doubt the most important thing that comes at the last minute when Saros rejected a wrist shot by Nikolaj Ehlers on a golden chance to bind the deal.
Neal Pionk scored the lone goal for Jets, whose franchise record winning spree began on December 22. Eric Comrie finished with 28 rescues for Winnipeg.
The struggling predators entered the collision after losing eight out of ten matches and needed an early spark. They got it when Forsberg opened the score at 4:26 in the first period and found the brand from the top of the left circle after a Ryan O’reilly Face-off victory in the offensive zone.
Pionk leveled the Count at 11:05 with a long point that hit the sweet place, a goal set by a fantastic work by Alex Iaffalo and Rasmus Kupari.
Novak, however, put the predators forward for good with a Power-play goal at 15:29 in the opening frame. Luke Evangelista stole the puck deep in the Winnipeg zone, it slipped at the front and Justin Barron fed a pass over the track to give Novak a Tap-in-Tally and Nashville’s first man-advantage marker in five matches.
Jets failed to convert a Power game of 1:54 five-three late in the second period and then it looked like a team that had played the night before and traveled. Winnipeg struggled to mount something of a third period comeback and handled only four shots on goal in the final frame.
-Field level media
