Rinne gets first shutout of season as Preds top Wild

Colton Sissons stayed hot with a goal and an assist, and Pekka Rinne made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season as the Nashville Predators beat the visiting Minnesota Wild 4-0 on Thursday night. It was a second straight victory for the Predators, who rank among the NHL leaders with 42 non-shootout goals while starting 6-3-1. Rinne, who improved to 6-0-1 with a 1.98 goals-against average on the season, stopped 13 shots in the first period en route to his 56th career shutout.

Sissons' short-handed goal late in the third period iced the contest for the Predators. All four of his goals have come over the past six games. The lone negative of the night for Nashville came when star forward Matt Duchene left with an apparent lower-body injury.

Miikka Salomaki, Calle Jarnkrok, and Craig Smith also scored as Nashville beat Minnesota for the second time this month. The Predators, who opened 2019-20 with a 5-2 home win over the Wild, have won seven straight in the series. Minnesota saw its bid for a third consecutive victory end while being shut out for the second time in four games. Alex Stalock made 17 saves for the Wild, who are 3-7-0 on the season.

Though neither team scored in the first period, Minnesota made a statement by outshooting the hosts 13-4. Rinne was not overly exerted, but he did have to work at times to keep Minnesota off the scoresheet. Nashville finally broke through 37 seconds in the second period. Taking a drop pass from Sissons, Salomaki, who didn't make the team out of camp, blistered the puck past Stalock for his first goal of the season.

Then with 29 seconds left in the second, the Predators made it 2-0. Jarnkrok took a pinpoint pass from Viktor Arvidsson and drove a shot that clanged off the far post and in for his second goal of the campaign. Off a perfect pass from Nick Bonino at the sideboard, the veteran Smith banged home a shot right in front of Stalock to ice the game for Nashville at 6:58 of the third period.

Filip Forsberg, who has five goals and three assists, missed a fourth straight game for Nashville due to a lower-body injury. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)