NASHVILLE – Olli Jokinen, Andrew Ladd and Devin Setoguchi scored and Ondrej Pavelec stopped 39 shots and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Nashville Predators 3-1 Saturday.
The Jets, ranked sixth in the NHL in penalty kills coming into the game, didn’t allow a goal on six Nashville power plays.
One of the Predators’ strengths has been converting man-advantage chances. Entering the game, they were fifth in the league, but Pavelec stopped Nashville on each power play.
Simon Moser scored his first NHL goal for Nashville.
The Jets improved 11-3-1 since hiring Paul Maurice as coach.
Jokinen put the Jets on the board at 5:02 of the second period when he beat Nashville goalie Carter Hutton with a wrist shot for his 14th of the season.
Jacob Trouba and Evander Kane assisted on the play when Winnipeg took advantage of a bad Nashville line change.
Trouba collected the puck in his own end and fired a long pass to Jokinen on the left side.
Ladd put the Jets up 2-0 at 18:18 of the second period when he tipped in a Zach Bogosian slap shot for his 15th of the season.
Moser brought the Predators within one, but Setoguchi put the game away when he tapped in a rebound off a Blake Wheeler miss with his 11th of the season at 16:08.
With the loss, the Predators missed a chance to tie the Jets in the playoff standings. Winnipeg has 66 points, while Nashville remains in 12th place with 62 points.
This was the final matchup of the season for the two teams.
Nashville won the series 3-2.
With the Jets up 2-1 and the Predators with momentum, Pavelec came up with a huge save with about five minutes left when he stopped Mike Fisher’s shot on a 2-on-1 charge to the net.
Scoring chances haven’t been hard to come by for Nashville. The Predators outshot Tampa Bay 21-7 in the final two periods of their game on Thursday, a 3-2 win.
On Saturday, the Predators took the first 10 shots of the game before the Jets could muster a chance at the net.
Notes: This was the 100th game of Nashville’s Rich Clune’s NHL career. … In 10 matchups against the team formerly known as the Thrashers, Nashville is 7-3-0 on home ice since the 1999-2000 season. … The win ended a four-game road losing streak in Nashville for Winnipeg.
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