National Hockey League
Nashville 6, Minnesota 2
When: 8:00 PM ET, Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Referees: Eric Furlatt, Chris Rooney
Linesmen: Bryan Pancich, James Tobias
Attendance: 17244

Roman Josi recorded a goal and two assists and Ryan Johansen scored two of Nashville's three power-play goals in the first period en route to his first NHL hat trick as the host Predators rolled over the Minnesota Wild 6-2 on Tuesday night.

Philip Tomasino also tallied a goal and two assists, Matt Duchene had a goal and an assist, Filip Forsberg had three assists and Mattias Ekholm added two assists for Nashville (40-25-4, 84 points), which remained in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Juuse Saros made 47 saves for his 34th victory of the season.

Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello each had a goal and an assist for Minnesota (43-21-5, 91 points), which had a 10-game point streak (9-0-1) snapped.

The chippy first period featured 42 combined penalty minutes and three fights as Nashville took a 3-1 lead thanks to the three power-play scores.

Josi made it 1-0 at the 5:10 mark with his 19th goal of the season, firing a wrist shot from the left circle past a screen by Nick Cousins screen and Marc Andre-Fleury's glove side.

Zuccarello, left alone in the slot, tied it with his 21st goal of the season with a wrist shot past Saros' blocker side.

But Nashville regained the lead just 25 seconds later on a nifty tic-tac-toe play that Johansen finished with a deflection into an open right side of the net off a Forsberg pass.

Johansen then made it 3-1 with 57 seconds left in the period with the Predators' third straight power-play score, redirecting Josi's point shot.

Tomasino made it 4-1 at the 6:06 mark of the second period with his 11th goal of the season. He one-timed a pass by Josi from the slot just five seconds after Minnesota had killed Matt Dumba's interference penalty.

The Wild closed to 4-2 near the end of the period. They converted a 5-on-3 advantage when Kaprizov ripped in a rebound of his own shot from the high slot.

Duchene then sealed it with his 36th goal of the season. With 6:32 to go, he snapped a wrist shot from the top of the right circle over Fleury's right shoulder and into the top far corner.

Johansen added an empty-netter with 6.1 seconds left to garner the hat trick with his 20th goal of the season.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Minnesota   Nashville
Kirill Kaprizov 2 Points Ryan Johansen 3
Kirill Kaprizov 1 Goals Ryan Johansen 3
Kirill Kaprizov 1 Assists Filip Forsberg 3
Kirill Kaprizov 1 Power Play Goals Ryan Johansen 2
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Marc-Andre Fleury .844 Save Percentage Juuse Saros .959
Marc-Andre Fleury 27 Saves Juuse Saros 47
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Minnesota 49 2 1-6 1-4 28 34
Nashville 33 6 3-4 5-6 30 35
Upcoming Games
  • Nashville will play their next game on the road against Ottawa. The Predators have a W/L % of .575 after a win and .586 after a loss.
  • Minnesota will play their next game on the road against St. Louis. The Wild have a W/L % of .667 after a win and .538 after a loss.