Rookie Juuso Parssinen scored two goals and set up another and captain Romani Josi notched four assists to lift the host Nashville Predators to a 5-4 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday.
Nashville’s Colton Sissons, Filip Forsberg and former Islanders forward Nino Niederreiter also scored and Juuse Saros made 29 saves. Defenseman Ryan McDonagh, 33, had an assist while playing in his 800th NHL game to fuel the Predators, who have won the first three contests on their five-game homestand.
New York defenseman Adam Pelech and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each collected a goal and an assist. Kyle Palmieri and Cal Clutterbuck also scored, and Ilya Sorokin turned aside 26 shots for the Islanders, who fell to 0-6-2 in their last eight games vs. Nashville — including 0-3-1 in Music City.
Sissons’ first goal of the season staked Nashville to a 2-1 lead at 8:43 of the first period. Cole Smith’s centering feed was deflected home by Sissons, who gained inside position on Pageau in front of the net.
Niederreiter doubled the advantage 58 seconds later after his sharp-angle shot from along the right-wing boards caromed off the skate of Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson and into the net. The goal was Niederreiter’s team-leading eighth of the season and second in as many games.
Parssinen, who was playing in his third NHL game, cleaned up a loose puck following a save in front to give the Predators a 4-1 lead at 5:01 of the second period.
Clutterbuck deflected Pelech’s shot from the point past Saros with 4:19 left in the second period before Palmieri scored from the slot to bring New York within a goal at 4:32 of the third.
Parssinen tipped home Mikael Granlund’s shot from deep in the right circle to give Nashville a 5-3 lead at 9:52 of the third period.
Pageau converted captain Anders Lee’s centering feed to halve the deficit with 4:21 remaining in the third period, but New York was unable to net the equalizer.
–Field Level Media