Different players have taken the spotlight during Nashville’s impressive points streak, and this time, it was Roman Josi’s turn.
“It’s the reason, in my opinion, why he’s the world’s best defenseman,” said Nashville coach Andrew Brunette. “He just does stuff like he did today and takes over games.”
Josi scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the third period, and Filip Forsberg added his 35th goal of the season into an empty net with 1:20 left, helping the Predators extend their points streak to 14 games with a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night.
The streak ties for the second-longest in franchise history, matching a 14-game run during the 2015-16 season. Nashville earned points in 15 straight games during the 2017-18 season, going 14-0-1 during that stretch.
The Predators are 12-0-2 during this run, strengthening their hold on the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
“The points streak is awesome because you need the points, but just the way we’ve been playing, it’s a lot of fun,” Josi said. “I feel like every night we’re working really hard, we’re playing fast, and it’s like every guy.”
Josi broke a 1-1 tie with a goal 9 seconds into a Nashville power play at 3:59 of the third period. His second goal came off an offensive zone faceoff, with a slap shot from the blue line that beat Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer, who was screened on the play.
It was Josi’s second multi-goal game in recent weeks, after scoring a pair in a win over Ottawa during Nashville’s points streak.
Tommy Novak also scored his 14th of the season in the first period with a fortunate bounce when his pass hit the skate of Seattle defenseman Justin Schultz and slipped past Grubauer. Mark Jankowski and Ryan McDonagh each had two assists.
Seattle lost its fourth straight – all at home – and may have officially fallen out of the wild-card race in the Western Conference. Grubauer made 26 saves, and Andre Burakovsky scored Seattle’s lone goal in the final seconds of a power play early in the third period. Despite that, Seattle remained nine points behind Vegas with 16 games left.
“The last couple of games obviously haven’t been going our way. But I think we just have to keep putting our foot forward. We’re still fighting over here,” Seattle forward Kailer Yamamoto said.
Nashville’s Juuse Saros appeared vulnerable early, but Seattle couldn’t capitalize on a couple of good chances in the opening minutes, including defenseman Jamie Oleksiak hitting the post. The Predators did a solid job defensively, limiting Seattle’s scoring chances, and Saros made the key stops when needed.
Saros finished with 22 saves.
Seattle was without top defenseman Vince Dunn for the fifth straight game, and forward Jaden Schwartz missed his third in a row. Both have upper-body injuries.
UP NEXT
- Predators: Host San Jose on Tuesday.
- Kraken: Host Buffalo on Monday.
