Kevin Lankinen made 39 saves and Cody Glass and Yakov Trenin scored second-period goals as the Nashville Predators held on for a 2-1 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
Backing up Juuse Saros in his first season with Nashville, Lankinen was stout nearly the entire contest while making his 10th start of the season to help his new club win consecutive home games for the first time since Nov. 21 and 29. Lankinen appeared in good shape to record his first shutout in nearly two years before Columbus' Gustav Nyquist made it a one-goal game with just under 11 minutes remaining in regulation.
Nyquist pounced on a loose net-front puck to score his ninth of the season. However, Lankinen (15 saves in the third) and the Predators stayed strong defensively to record their second 2-1 victory on successive nights -- following a three-game losing streak.
Nashville has also won seven in a row at home over Columbus, which has just three road victories this season.
Making his first start since Dec. 23, goalie Daniil Tarasov held his own, for the most part, while stopping 26 shots for the Blue Jackets, who have lost two straight. Columbus has totaled 30 non-shootout goals during its current 3-14-0 stretch.
Nashville outshot the Blue Jackets 12-9 in the first period, but neither side managed a goal. Thanks in part to Tarasov, who was up to the task in stopping everything the Predators threw at him.
Columbus totaled 15 shots in the second period, but it was Nashville that managed all the scoring. Off a nifty slide pass from Filip Forsberg, Glass turned around and whipped the puck past Tarasov at the 5:42 mark into the second. Nashville made it 2-0 when Roman Josi circled behind the Columbus net, then found Trenin on the doorstep to convert with 3:05 remaining in the middle frame.
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