The Nashville Predators quickly got back to their winning ways Saturday afternoon against the New York Rangers with a 3-2 victory. Coming into Bridgestone Arena, the Rangers were riding a three-game winning streak and even had the lead until late in the second period when the Predators scored twice in 40 seconds with goals from Roman Josi and Shea Weber.

“It was huge,” said Filip Forsberg on the momentum shift the two goals brought. “It’s way different to have the lead compared to being down a goal going into the third. Those goals were huge for us.”

Throughout the game, the Predators didn’t look as disheveled as they did Thursday night in the loss against the Anaheim Ducks.

“We were ready to play tonight,” said Forsberg. “I don’t think we were ready on Thursday against Anaheim. I’m really happy that we could come out and show what type of team we are from the start.”

Even though the majority of the second was controlled by New York, Nashville didn’t dig themselves into a hole.

“It was good,” said Shea Weber in regards to how the team came out. “They played a really good game and we got some timely goals. We know that we came out hard, we kind of dipped in the second, but we have to get back to playing 60 minutes the way we normally can.”

Rangers goaltender, and Alabama-Huntsville alumnus, Cam Talbot played a strong game in relief of starter Henrik Lundqvist who is currently out due to injury. On several occasions, Talbot robbed Forsberg of sure-thing goals.

“I had probably six or seven shots on net, so I just tried to keep shooting,” said Forsberg. “I was really hoping I could get one, but a couple posts got in the way tonight.”

Saturday was one of the few times Nashville was held under 30 shots on net, but shooting whenever a lane is open is still the team’s strategy.

“That’s the mantra of our team, I just try to shoot it as much as I can,” said Forsberg. “I really don’t know who was counting shots tonight because it said we had 23, but it felt more like 40-something. I think we did a good job with putting the puck to the net.”

While Forsberg didn’t register a goal in Saturday’s tilt, he did tally an assist on the game-winning goal by Mike Ribeiro. The goal gave Ribeiro 700 points for his career.

“It’s amazing,” said Forsberg on Ribeiro’s achievement. “It’s really impressive and just to be a part of his career is great. If I ever get there, I would be more than satisfied. It’s a really good achievement.”

With the win, the Nashville Predators improve to 21-3-1 at home, good for best in the league.

“It feels great,” said Forsberg on the win. “The Rangers are a tough team coming in here to our building, but it’s great that we can keep our home record good here.”

There isn’t much rest for the team as they quickly head to Florida for a match-up Sunday afternoon against the Panthers. Florida will comes into the game winning their past two, their most recent win being against the L.A. Kings.

“We’re going into Florida, who’s playing very well right now,” said Weber. “They’re playing good hockey and it’s going to be another tough game. You don’t look at that team anymore thinking it’s going to be easy. It’s going to be tough and we know it.”

Sunday’s game is another early afternoon bout with the puck set to drop at 2pm Central Time.

 

View Peter Laviolette’s post game press conference: