Colton Sissons notched the second hat trick of his career, Pekka Rinne had 24 saves, and the Nashville Predators beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 in Denver on Wednesday night.
Ryan Hartman also scored and Nick Bonino had three assists for the Predators (12-3-0), who won their fourth straight and their 11th straight regular season game against the Avalanche. Colorado (7-5-3) has lost four in a row, two in overtime.
Sissons came into Wednesday with one goal on the season and 23 in his five-year career but again vexed the Avalanche. He had three goals and four assists in the first round of the playoffs when Nashville eliminated Colorado in six games.
Matt Calvert scored his first goal and Semyon Varlamov stopped 30 shots for the Avalanche, who lost their third straight.
The game was scoreless until late in the first period when the Predators came in on a rush. Mattias Ekholm fed Bonino to the left of Varlamov, and Bonino tipped the puck to Sissons, who knocked it in at 13:39.
He got his second one at 17:21 with a hard shot from the right circle that beat Varlamov on the far side.
Calvert cut the deficit in half when his high tip of Sam Girard's shot from the point beat Rinne at 7:08 of the second.
Sissons restored the two-goal lead with his fourth of the season on a power play late in the second period. His quick shot from close in beat Varlamov with 2.8 seconds left before intermission.
Colorado appeared to cut the lead to 3-2 in the third period when Colin Wilson scored, but the Predators challenged that the Avalanche were offsides. The goal was reversed and the game stayed 3-1.
It was the second time Nashville successfully challenged a goal in the game. Ian Cole had an earlier goal disallowed for offsides.
The Avalanche pulled Varlamov for an extra skater with more than three minutes left and Hartman scored his fourth at 17:06 to ice it for the Predators.
--Field Level Media
Nashville | Colorado | |
Colton Sissons 3 | Points | Matt Calvert 1 |
Colton Sissons 3 | Goals | Matt Calvert 1 |
Nick Bonino 3 | Assists | Samuel Girard 1 |
Colton Sissons 1 | Power Play Goals | Matt Calvert 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Pekka Rinne .960 | Save Percentage | Semyon Varlamov .909 |
Pekka Rinne 24 | Saves | Semyon Varlamov 30 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Nashville | 34 | 4 | 1-3 | 2-3 | 6 | 38 |
Colorado | 25 | 1 | 1-3 | 2-3 | 6 | 34 |