Yakov Trenin didn’t need his stick to score his first NHL goal, and he’s perfectly fine with that.
Nick Bonino, Dante Fabbro, and Rocco Grimaldi each contributed a goal and an assist as the Nashville Predators defeated the New Jersey Devils 6-4 on Saturday night.
Trenin scored his first NHL goal, and Daniel Carr and Filip Forsberg also found the back of the net for Nashville, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Mattias Ekholm added two assists, and Pekka Rinne made 29 saves.
In just his second career NHL game, Trenin put the Predators ahead for good when he notched his first goal with his skate.
Grimaldi capitalized on a New Jersey turnover and fired a slap shot from the right circle. The puck deflected off Trenin’s skate and slipped between Domingue’s pads at 5:52 of the second period, giving Nashville a 3-2 lead.
“If I had time, I would have screened the goalie or tried for a tip, but I got a lucky bounce,” Trenin said. “It’s my second game, and I felt more confident out there.”
Jesper Bratt, Travis Zajac, Kyle Palmieri, and Taylor Hall scored for the Devils, who have now lost five straight games. Louis Domingue made 31 saves in the loss.
“The response was good. That’s probably the biggest positive out of this game,” New Jersey interim coach Alain Nasreddine said. “We were down 2-0 and managed to come back. That was good. They went up by two again, and we battled back to make it a one-goal game. There was no quit.”
Forsberg netted his 11th goal of the season at 7:24 of the second period to put Nashville up 4-2, but Palmieri cut the deficit to one with his 11th goal less than six minutes later.
Bonino restored the Predators’ two-goal lead at 5:47 of the third period with his 11th goal of the season.
Hall brought the Devils back within one goal with just under nine minutes left in regulation. Still, Grimaldi sealed the victory 95 seconds later with a breakaway goal after tipping the puck past Devils defenseman P.K. Subban.
“I haven’t had a breakaway from that far out in a long time,” Grimaldi said. “It was a one-goal game, and I needed to come through to give us some breathing room, and thankfully it went in.”
The scoring began quickly, with both teams combining for four goals in the first four minutes.
The well-rested Predators jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Carr and Fabbro. The Predators hadn’t played since Tuesday, while the Devils had just come off a shootout loss to Chicago on Friday night.
Carr’s goal came 46 seconds into the game as he redirected Dan Hamhuis’s shot past Domingue. Fabbro doubled the lead at 2:13 with his third goal of the season.
“The more you get comfortable, the more confidence you gain,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said of Fabbro. “As his confidence grows and he starts to develop with more games in the NHL, I think his offensive game will grow as well.”
The Devils responded with two quick goals: Bratt at 2:45 and Zajac at 1:14.
“I know we’ll fix it, continue to improve, and try to get better,” Zajac said. “We turned some pucks over. There are plays to be made that are the right plays, and sometimes we still try to force it through guys. You don’t want to beat yourself, and I think we can improve in those areas.”
During a first-period timeout, the Predators played a video tribute for Subban, who received a standing ovation from the Bridgestone Arena crowd. Subban played the previous three seasons in Nashville.
Game Notes:
- Trenin, who was called up from Milwaukee of the AHL on Friday, became the 184th player in Predators franchise history to score a goal.
- Predators C Mikael Granlund missed his second consecutive game due to a lower-body injury.
- Bratt has two goals in his last three games.
- Domingue is 3-2-1 in his career against Nashville.
- Devils D Sami Vatanen had two assists.
UP NEXT:
- Devils: Visit Dallas on Tuesday night.
- Predators: Host San Jose on Tuesday night.
