NASHVILLE, Tennessee – – Eeli Tolvanen, Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene all had a goal and an assist to lead the Nashville Predators to a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Tanner Jeannot, Mattias Ekholm and Yakov Trenin also scored for the Predators, who won three of four. Juuse Saros made 38 saves, Roman Josi three assists and Colton Sissons two.
Mitchell Marner had two goals and an assist for the Maple Leafs. Auston Matthews added a goal and an assist, and Erik Kallgren made 28 saves for Toronto, winning his two previous games.
Forsberg’s goal at 12:11 of the third period gave him 33 in the season and 211 for his career, setting a Nashville record.
Jeannot shot for the first time at 13:46 from the opening.
Sissons brought the puck to the right in the Toronto zone and cut in the middle. He found Jeannot on the left side and he hit Kallgren with a wrist high on the far side.
Tolvanen made it 2-0 at 1:48 of the second as he deflected Jeremy Davies’ shot from the left of Kallgren’s left.
Marner halved the Nashville lead at 8:04 of the second.
The Predators regained a two-goal lead at 10:52 of the second when Ekholm connected on a one-timer from the right board of a feed from Alexandre Carrier.
At 3:41 of the third, Matthews collected the rebound from his own shot and hit Saros just in the left post to pull the Maple Leafs into a goal.
Duchene scored a rebound from Forsberg’s shot at 14:09 from the third. The goal was Duchene’s 33rd of the season, and set a career high.
Marner scored again at 15:19 from the third and Trenin added an empty goal in the last minute.
RECORD BREAK GOAL
Forsberg’s goal broke the franchise record previously held by David Legwand. On Saturday, Forsberg played his 546th game, while Legwand put his mark in 956 games.
MATTHEWS RETURNS
Matthews has played his first game since serving a two-game suspension to control Buffalo’s Rasmus Dahlin in the neck at the Heritage Classic last Sunday.
Matthews scored his NHL-leading 46th goal of the season early in the third period Saturday. He has 11 points (nine goals, two assists) in his last six games.
CASE BLOOD
Toronto right side Ondrej Kase left early in the second period after a neutral zone collision with Nashville Matt Duchene.
Later in the season, the Maple Leafs announced that Kase would not return to the game for precautionary reasons.
DEFENSIVE MOVES
Nashville recalled defenders Davies and Matt Tennyson of Milwaukee from the AHL and introduced them to the lineup as the team’s third pair. In corresponding moves, predators put Blueliners Matt Benning and Mark Borowiecki on injured reserves.
Borowiecki missed Nashville’s last seven games due to a lower body injury. Benning missed two games with a thigh injury.
Nashville also put defender Philippe Myers on offense.
OP Next
Predators: Visit the Anaheim Ducks to begin a three-game road trip on Monday.
Maple Leafs: Host the New Jersey Devils Wednesday.
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