Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist for the Nashville Predators in a 2-1 win against the visiting Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.
Nino Niederreiter also scored, Ryan Johansen had two assists and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for the Predators, who were coming off a 2-1 win against the visiting New York Rangers on Saturday.
Frederick Gaudreau scored and Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves for Minnesota, which has scored a combined four goals while going 1-1-1 over the past three games.
Nashville took a 1-0 lead at 11:20 of the first period.
Johansen and Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin were pursuing the puck as it slid through the inside edge of the left circle. Johansen reached out with one hand and made a short centering pass to Niederreiter, who redirected the puck into the net.
Niederreiter spent five seasons with the Wild from 2013-18.
Nashville went on a power play 20 seconds after the goal when Sam Steel was called for high-sticking Ryan McDonagh.
Johansen made a backhand pass back to Duchene just outside the left circle, and he blasted a one-timer into the net for a 2-0 lead at 12:04.
Minnesota had killed its previous 17 penalties.
The Wild had a four-minute power play later in the opening period when Johansen received a double minor for high-sticking Brandon Duhaime, who had sat out the previous five games with an upper-body injury.
Minnesota failed to capitalize on the long stretch with the man advantage, however.
Saros made 17 saves in the first period, including eight over the final 4:09, four of which came on the four-minute power play.
Saros was slightly less busy in the second period, stopping all 10 shots he faced to carry the 2-0 lead into the third period.
Gaudreau scored 32 seconds into the third, hitting the short side of the net from the bottom of the left circle off a rush to cut the deficit to 2-1.
--Field Level Media
Minnesota | Nashville | |
Frederick Gaudreau 1 | Points | Matt Duchene 2 |
Frederick Gaudreau 1 | Goals | Matt Duchene 1 |
Kirill Kaprizov 1 | Assists | Ryan Johansen 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Matt Duchene 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Marc-Andre Fleury .920 | Save Percentage | Juuse Saros .970 |
Marc-Andre Fleury 23 | Saves | Juuse Saros 32 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Minnesota | 33 | 1 | 0-5 | 4-5 | 22 | 24 |
Nashville | 25 | 2 | 1-5 | 5-5 | 24 | 29 |