{{pageModel.leagueAbbr}} {{pageModel.subtitle}} | Las Vegas Review-Journal
National Hockey League
Nashville 2, Edmonton 0
When: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, October 10, 2015
Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Referees: Francis Charron, Marc Joannette
Linesmen: Jonny Murray, Tim Nowak
Attendance: 17113

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- On a night when offense was hard to come by, the Nashville Predators scored two late goals late to beat the Edmonton Oilers.

Right winger Craig Smith and left winger Filip Forsberg produced the goals that gave the Predators a 2-0 victory on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena.

"There was not a lot of room in either zone and there was not a lot of room in the neutral zone," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "And you had to work for what you got."

Goaltender Pekka Rinne stopped all 31 shots he faced for his second win of the season for the Predators (2-0-0.) He has allowed only one goal in the first two games, stopping 56 of 57 shots.

"He was awesome," Laviolette said. "He made some big saves in there and our guys did a good job of trying to tie things up in front of him. Defensively, I thought we were pretty good in the house."

Rinne, runner-up to Montreal goalie Carey Price for last year's Vezina Trophy, said the shutout was a bonus.

"For sure, the win is the most important thing, but at the same time you don't want to give up any goals and it's always a good feeling when you have a shutout," Rinne said. "It's a compliment to your teammates. I'm never the only reason if we don't give up any goals. It's my teammates, too."

Rinne and Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot stopped everything that came their way during the first 39 minutes before the Predators broke the scoreless tie late in the second period.

Oilers defenseman Andrej Sekera turned the puck over near the point, where Nashville left winger Colin Wilson scooped it up for a two-on-one breakaway down the left wing.

Wilson fed Smith with a cross-ice pass and he beat Talbot high to the glove side with a wrist shot, giving Nashville a 1-0 lead with 1:08 left in the second period.

"I was coming back with a little bit of speed, so I was able to jump on it," Smith said. "Willy had a great jump and he made a really nice, deceptive pass. He kind of started the whole thing."

Smith also scored the Predators' first goal of the season in Thursday's 2-1 win over Carolina. He tied for second on the team with 23 goals last season.

Talbot stopped Wilson on a breakaway 14 minutes earlier with a blocker-pad save that kept Nashville off the scoreboard.

Edmonton appeared to tie the score 1-1 at 6:17 of the third period, but after a review the officials ruled that Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins used a "distinct kicking motion" with his right skate to score on a rebound of left wing Taylor Hall's close-range shot from the top of the crease.

Forsberg made it 2-0 when he scored from the low slot on a wrister high to Talbot's glove side after taking center Mike Ribeiro's nice feed from behind the net with 6:58 left.

It was the first goal of the season for Forsberg, who led Nashville with 63 points last season.

Edmonton rookie center Connor McDavid, the top pick in June's NHL Draft, took two shots but won only 2 of 11 faceoffs in his second NHL game as he logged 18:39 of ice time.

The Oilers have had the top pick in four of the last six drafts. McDonlad might be the NHL's most hyped player since Pittsburgh center Sidney Crosby debuted in 2005.

"He's just a really fast, skilled player," Forsberg said. "He's going to be a tremendous player in this league. Obviously, the first two games it's new. Never played against real men. It's going to take some time before he gets going, but he's going to be a real good hockey player, that's for sure."

Edmonton's power play units struggled, going 0-for-5 against Nashville's penalty killers.

"Our offense has to get better and a lot of that has to do with the power play," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "I thought our power play sucked the life out of us, so that was disappointing. Some of the things we were doing on the power play were the right things, but we killed it ourselves with poor execution, poor passing."

Edmonton defenseman Justin Schultz believes the Oilers need to clean up their entry passes on the power play.

"Our breakouts were pretty good each time and we didn't really win the battles and set possession when it was in their end," Schultz said. "When we did on the last power play, we won the faceoff and we had some good chances. We just have to clean up everything when we get possession in their end."

Rinne tied Tomas Vokoun's team record for goalies by playing in his 383rd career game.

The Predators, who boasted the best home record in the Western Conference last season at 28-9-4, have won their first two games in Nashville this year.

Edmonton (0-2-0) has scored only one goal in its first two games.

"You need to score some goals to win games," McLellan said. "We had some looks. I'm not sure we were really strong around the net."

NOTES: Nashville scratched D Victor Bartley, D Anthony Bitetto and LW Austin Watson. ... Edmonton scratched RW Jordan Eberle, D Griffin Reinhart, LW Luke Gazdic and D Brandon Davidson. ... Nashville released D Mikko Vainonen on Friday. ... Saturday's game was the first of three meetings between the Oilers and the Predators this season. Nashville swept three games from Edmonton last year.
Top Game Performances
 
Edmonton   Nashville
N/A Points Filip Forsberg 1
N/A Goals Filip Forsberg 1
N/A Assists Mike Ribeiro 1
N/A Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Cameron Talbot .923 Save Percentage Pekka Rinne 1.000
Cameron Talbot 24 Saves Pekka Rinne 31
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Edmonton 31 0 0-5 2-2 4 37
Nashville 26 2 0-2 5-5 10 34
Upcoming Games
  • Nashville will play their next game on the road against New Jersey. The Predators have a W/L % of 1.000 after a win and 1.000 after a loss.
  • Edmonton will play their next game on the road against Dallas. The Oilers have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .000 after a loss.