GOLDEN KNIGHTS

Saturday against the Nashville Predators, and the group combined for five points in a 5-1 win.

“He’s a really good wall player, something you don’t notice until you play with (him),” said Pacioretty, who had two goals. “Always making that right play on the wall, and that just makes it easy coming out of our end. We got a lot of opportunities from that because of (Eakin’s) speed, able to back off defenders and then play in their end.”

Lindberg’s work on the boards made breakouts easier, and the Knights’ third line feasted with a 7-1 edge in scoring chances. The 27-yearold also contributed offensively as the team ended a five-game home losing streak.

Lindberg picked up a goal and an assist for his second twopoint game of the season.

“The whole team, I don’t know how many in a row we’ve been losing here at home, so we kind of said, ‘Go out there and play a hard, physical game’ and it worked out for us,” Lindberg said.

Lindberg wants to continue that physical play as he seeks to stay in the lineup for the fourth straight game.

“He’s a great player,” Pacioretty said Saturday. “Every time he’s kind of been inserted into a different role he’s always seemed to find a way to contribute. He was very effective tonight. He made life pretty easy on me and (Eakin), and we want to build off that.”

Theodore goes right

Knights defenseman Shea Theodore said he played on the right side against the Nashville Predators for the first time in the NHL.

The team mixed up its defensive pairs Saturday, and Theodore, who normally plays on the left side with right-shot defenseman Deryk Engelland, skated with left-shot defenseman Brayden Mcnabb. The two worked well in their first game together as Mcnabb was a team-best plus-4 and Theodore was plus-3.

“I played the majority of juniors on the right side because I was paired with a lefty,” Theodore said. “A little bit in the minors when I was with San Diego. It’s a difference, but it’s nottoobigofadeal.”

Schmidt takes his time

Defenseman Nate Schmidt, who moved to the left side to play with Engelland, played a season-high 26:49 against Nashville.

Schmidt was also more active offensively with his new partner and finished with four shots on goal, tied for his third highest total of the season.

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@ reviewjournal.com. Follow @Bensgotz on Twitter.