The Nashville Predators and the visiting Calgary Flames will both be looking for their third straight win when they meet Thursday night.
Calgary has won five of its past seven after posting a 3-1 win at the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night. Jonathan Huberdeau, Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman scored, while Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves.
Huberdeau ended an 18-game goal drought and has two points (one goal, one assist) in his past two games after going 12 games without a point.
“It felt good. It’s been a while,” said Huberdeau, whose last goal before Tuesday came Nov. 20. “I think lately we’ve been playing better, so I think it was good to get chemistry on our line, too. That one obviously felt good, and especially to finish it off with a win.”
Calgary, playing the opener of a four-game road trip, took a 2-0 lead. The Wild pulled within 2-1 in the second period, but Markstrom kept Minnesota off the board and Coleman added a late empty-net goal.
“I thought we had a good start, especially in this building,” Huberdeau said. “It’s not easy. After that, I think they pushed back. We knew that was going to happen. ‘Marky’ stood up. Guys were blocking shots. That’s the kind of team we are — resilient. We came up with a huge win.”
Nashville was strong defensively as well Tuesday, posting a 3-0 win against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks. Juuse Saros made 21 saves for his second shutout of the season for the Predators, who have points in three straight (2-0-1).
Gustav Nyquist and Ryan O’Reilly each had a goal and an assist.
“It was nice to get the win back at home, and good to see (Saros) get the shutout there,” Nyquist said. “It was kind of a hard game. They’re checking hard. You get a little timid maybe and don’t want to make a mistake when it’s only 1-0. I didn’t love our second period, but good to get the job done.”
With his first-period power-play goal, Nyquist extended his point streak to six games (five goals, four assists) and it was his second multi-point game in his past three. He has surpassed his 2022-23 points total of 27 and has accumulated 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) in 13 fewer games.
“He’s so fun to play with, just the smarts and the little plays he makes and the way he skates and just creates — it’s so fun to play with,” O’Reilly said of Nyquist. “And I think we’ve done a good job. And it’s got to be that spark for us offensively, and playing with him, he just makes it so easy out there.”
Predators defenseman Tyson Barrie (upper-body injury) has missed the last four games and remains day-to-day.
This will be the teams’ third and final meeting. Calgary rallied with three third-period goals for a 4-2 home win Nov. 7, and Saros made 24 saves as the Predators got even with a 4-2 home win Nov. 22.
–Field Level Media
