The Nashville Predators started their most-anticipated season in franchise history Friday night with a win, thanks to their power play.
Scoring all its goals with the man advantage, Nashville edged the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 at sold-out Bridgestone Arena.
Major offseason acquisition P.K. Subban, Roman Josi and Mike Fisher netted the goals for the Predators, which won their fourth straight home opener with a cast of players that some expect to win the Central Division and Western Conference.
Pekka Rinne stopped 22 shots, including 12 in the third period. Rinne made four saves in the last 1:46 as Chicago played with a 6-on-4 advantage after an interference call on Subban.
Game Highlights
Corey Crawford (0-2-0) made 24 saves for Chicago, which also allowed three power play markers Wednesday night in its season-opening 5-2 loss to St. Louis. The Blackhawks and Nashville finish off a home-and-home set Saturday night at the United Center.
Chicago scored first just 2:39 into the first period on its first shot. After Rinne poked the puck from Ryan Hartman, Marcus Kruger collected it in the slot and swiped it in for his first goal.
The Predators equalized on the power play at 7:46 as Subban fired home a slapper from just inside the blue line on his first shot with his new team, electrifying the sellout crowd.
Niklas Hjalmarsson, playing his first game of the season after sitting out Wednesday night's opener due to a suspension, gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 edge at 9:51 on a wrister from the left faceoff circle that clanged in off the right goalpost.
That lead disappeared at 16:33 when Josi bombed home his own power-play marker on a slapper from almost the exact same spot as Subban.
Nashville grabbed its first lead at 16:36 of the second period on another power play. Newly-minted captain Fisher deflected Josi's point blast by Crawford, 36 seconds after Artem Anisimov went off for delay of game.
NOTES: Chicago scratched D Michal Rozsival, D Trevor van Riemsdyk and C Dennis Rasmussen. Van Riemsdyk was minus-1 in the opener against the St. Louis Blues and took two minor penalties, with the Blues scoring on both. ... Nashville scratched D Yannick Weber and C Cody Bass. ... Blackhawks RW Marian Hossa needs just one goal to reach 500 in his career and nine assists to notch 600 for his career, which would make him the 32nd player in NHL history to accomplish that feat. ... With Weber, D Roman Josi and LW Kevin Fiala on the roster, the Predators are only the second team in league history with three Swiss-born players on their roster.
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