Ryan O’Reilly tallied twice in his 1,100th career game, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Dallas Stars by a 4-1 final on Thursday night at American Airlines Center. The result snaps Nashville’s eight-game winless skid and gives them their eighth victory of the season.
Tommy Novak and Zachary L’Heureux also scored in the triumph, and goaltender Justus Annunen made 35 saves to earn his first win as a member of the Preds in a satisfying effort.
“[This win] feels very good,” O’Reilly said. “I think as a group, we want to be harder to play against, and kind of consistent with that, and as a group we were. After sitting out for a few games, you kind of take for granted how lucky you are just to play the game. And so it's a nice reset for myself to come in and bring some life to the lineup. And, just as a group, we were hard to play against, big saves, big blocks, pucks over at the right time. The challenges can be followed up. So it’s not going to get any easier against Colorado [on Saturday], and that'll be the challenge for us, but something to build on.”
“I think for the group, we stayed with it the whole game,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “We haven't had many games that we put 60 minutes [in]. Big focus was our second periods of late. And I thought our second was the best period. So [I'm] really happy for them. I think some of the guys deserve to feel better. We've had a lot of opportunities to put up goals, and tonight we got rewarded. So I just want them to feel a little bit better.”
The Predators appeared to take a 1-0 lead in the opening frame, but defenseman Adam Wilsby had his first NHL goal negated after a successful offside challenge by the Stars.
However, in the second stanza, the Preds took off. O’Reilly’s first of the night came on a feed from Jonathan Marchessault behind the Dallas net, and the alternate captain roofed a shot past Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger for a 1-0 lead. Wilsby got his first NHL point on the play with a secondary assist.
Less than two minutes after that, Novak finished off a slick passing play with Marchessault and Steven Stamkos, and No. 82 in white potted his second goal in as many games with a nifty move in tight to beat Oettinger to go up by two.
Then, just over a minute after that, a point shot from newly recalled defenseman Kevin Gravel was tipped in by O’Reilly as the Preds finished off arguably their best period of the season.
“We managed the puck,” Brunette said. “I thought we were on the same page. We were connected. We put pucks in areas we can get back, and then we tracked back, and a little bit of the identity when we're kind of going, that's what it looks like. And it was fun for the group to stay with it for 60 [minutes] and not veer off when things maybe weren't going our way early in the game. I thought we created, we were all over them… We've been here so many different times and fell short. And for me, the second was the push that we needed.”
Dallas broke the shutout bid from Annunen when Lian Bichsel scored his first NHL goal in his first game, but that was as close as the Stars came before L’Heureux iced things with his third of the season and first empty-netter of his career on an assist from O'Reilly.
“[We] always stuck with it,” Wilsby said. “We were pretty banged up on the D side, so it was really good by us to stay with it. And we've been really close now for the last couple games. So it felt really good to win.”
Annunen was impressive in his Preds debut last week in Montreal, and that was the case once more on Thursday in Dallas - and his teammates took notice.
“He was phenomenal tonight,” O’Reilly said of Annunen. “He made so many timely saves. That's a very great team over there. They've got a lot of firepower, they make good plays, and it was timely saves that could have changed the game for us. He made [them], and it was great to get him a win.”
“He’s just so calm,” Wilsby said of Annunen. “Even when they got some good chances on us, he’s just calm. So it's very impressive.”
Now, the Predators will head to Colorado with something to build on - a task that hasn’t been easy for Nashville, but one they’re eager to try again nonetheless.
“I think [there were] the little details of the game that when things weren't going well, and we still competed,” O’Reilly said. “And those timely blocks, getting the puck in, not trying to force something. I think just mentally as a group, we were just stronger. If we had to win 1-0, we were going to win 1-0. I just thought we just kind of stayed with it, and that's something we’ve got to build on.”
Notes:
O’Reilly returned to the Nashville lineup after missing three games with a lower-body injury. Preds forward Gustav Nyquist was also back for Nashville after missing Tuesday’s game due to illness.
Preds Captain Roman Josi did not play on Thursday and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Forwards Juuso Parssinen and Fedor Svechkov were also scratched for Nashville.
Justus Annunen recorded 35 saves in his first win with Nashville. Per NHL Public Relations, the only goaltenders in franchise history with as many in their first career win with the club are Marek Mazanec (39 on Nov. 16, 2013), Carter Hutton (38 on Oct. 20, 2013) and Pekka Rinne (35 on Dec. 15, 2005).
The Predators will conclude their two-game road trip on Saurday night in Colorado against the Avalanche before returning to Bridgestone Arena for a four-game homestand to lead into the holiday break.
