NASHVILLE – Martin Erat scored two goals and the Nashville Predators beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 Monday night for their sixth straight victory.
The streaking Predators finished off a five-game homestand in style and have won 10 of 12 overall. Jason Arnott also scored a power-play goal for Nashville. Pekka Rinne, who has been in net for each game during this run, stopped 30 shots for the win.
Drew Miller scored for Detroit, which has lost three of four.
The Red Wings came in on a roll themselves, going 7-2-1 in their previous 10 games. They have dominated the series between these Central Division rivals, but Nashville won last season 4-2-0.
This also was the Red Wings’ first game since defenceman Nicklas Kronwall hurt his left knee, an injury that will keep him out at least a month. That might have been one reason why Nashville kept the puck in the Detroit zone early while outshooting the Red Wings 21-15 through the first two periods.
In a game pitting the NHL’s two least penalized teams, the Predators scored with the man advantage in each of the first two periods and went 2-for-4 on the power play.
Arnott spun around in front of the goal and tried a backhand shot, then put the rebound past Chris Osgood at 10:24 of the first. Arnott has scored in three straight games, totalling four goals.
Erat made it 2-0 at 1:41 of the second when Joel Ward found him at the back of the left circle, and Erat’s slap shot beat Osgood for another power-play goal.
Miller got Detroit on the board at 6:38 of the second as he skated along the line through traffic and scored his first goal of the season.
Erat padded the lead with his fourth goal on a wrist shot at 17:40 to help seal the victory.
NOTES: Nashville had just seven power-play goals through the first 17 games. But the Predators had eight power-play goals in the five-game homestand that ended Monday night. They improved to 11-0-0 when scoring with the man advantage. … Nashville also is 9-1-0 when scoring first. … Nashville’s Steve Sullivan has six points in five games. … Nashville’s David Legwand, who had an assist, has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his last six games.
