Isles fall to Predators in shootout
PREDATORS 3 ISLANDERS 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi scored in the shootout to lead the Nashville Predators to a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Tanner Jeannot scored twice and Juuse Saros made 34 saves in regulation and overtime for Nashville, winners of three straight.
Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves in regulation and overtime and Anthony Beauvillier and Oliver Wahlstrom scored for the Islanders, which had its two-game winning streak snapped.
Beauvillier scored the game’s first goal at 14:46 of the opening period on a New York power play.
With Ryan Johansen in the box for holding the stick and Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm having lost his stick early in the penalty kill, the Islanders moved the puck around the Nashville zone and Josh Bailey found Beauvillier just below the right faceoff dot, where he beat a sprawling Saros with a wrist shot up high.
Jeannot tied it at 6:54 of the second.
Skating in the right side, Jeannot cut to the faceoff dot, where his wrist shot handcuffed and beat Sorokin for his third goal of the season.
The Islanders regained the lead at 12:04 of the second on Wahlstrom’s powerplay goal.
He beat Saros high to the blocker side just underneath the cross bar with a wrist shot from the left circle.
Jeannot made it 2-2 with 8:12 to go in the third when he redirected a pass from Matt Benning past Sorokin for his second of the game.
It was the first two-goal game of Jeannot’s NHL career.
SOROKIN AGAIN
Sorokin has started every game for the Islanders this season. The Islanders, who returned to action Saturday, had not played since Sorokin posted backto-back shutouts of the Arizona Coyotes and Vegas Golden Knights last Saturday and Sunday. He is the first Islanders goaltender to post consecutive shutouts in back-to-back games.
Semyon Varlamov dressed for the first time this season and served as Sorokin’s backup in the game.
POWER PLAY FINDS SUCCESS
With two power-play goals in four opportunities Saturday, the Islanders equaled their power play production for the first six games of the season.
Entering Saturday, the Islanders had the league’s 25th ranked power play with a 12.5% success rate.
UP NEXT
The Predators play at Calgary on Tuesday, opening up a stretch of sixstraight and nine of 10 on the road.
The Islanders continue their season-opening 13game road trip Thursday in Montreal.