Nelson's late goal pushes Isles past Predators

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[March 06, 2015]  NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Center Brock Nelson's rebound goal helped the New York Islanders rebound from a tough stretch of hockey.

Nelson scored with 6:08 left, giving New York a wild 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night.

Right winger Michael Grabner's shot bounced over Nashville defenseman Seth Jones' stick after goalie Pekka Rinne made the initial save. Nelson capitalized with his 18th goal of the season.

"Nice job by Grabs kind of driving the line and getting a shot off the far pad," Nelson said. "It snuck through Jones, and I was able to just kind of get a quick shot off and beat him in the back of the net."

The Islanders (42-21-3) lost four of their previous six games.

Nashville scored twice in a 33-second span midway through the third period to tie the game at 3.

"Obviously, that's really not what we wanted to happen, but it's part of the game, and I think all you can do is worry about your next shift," Islanders center John Tavares said. "When you get contributions from a lot of different areas, especially a young guy like Brock that's played so well for us, it's big to have those and have guys make plays in big moments of the game."

Nelson's winning goal typified the way things are going for the Predators lately.

"We catch a tough bounce on the rebound that jumps over our defenseman's stick," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "Tough bounce."

Defenseman Ryan Ellis' one-timer from inside the blue line bounced off center Mike Ribeiro's upper body to cut New York's lead to 3-2 with 9:44 left.

Center Craig Smith's top-shelf wrist shot tied the game at 3 with 9:13 left.

Nashville (41-18-7) dropped its fifth straight, extending its longest losing streak of the season.

The Predators, who boasted the NHL's best record until recently, hadn't sustained two consecutive regulation losses until the current skid.

"It's hard to win when you're giving up four goals a game, especially now," Ribeiro said. "You need to give up one or two goals a game. So I think we need to tie it up a little bit defensively and get those goals a little bit down."

Tavares skated from behind the back of the net to the right side of the crease, where he flipped a wrist shot by Rinne to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead at the 11:24 mark of the first period.

Tavares' 31st goal marked the 10th straight game the Predators allowed the first goal.

Nashville outshot New York 10-3 during the first 11 minutes but couldn't get anything past goalie Jaroslav Halak.

The Islanders increased their lead to 2-0 at 18:30 of the opening period on the power play. Center Anders Lee's slap shot from the point beat Rinne to the blocker side. Tavares dropped a pass to Lee, who converted it into his 22nd goal of the season while center Paul Gaustad was in the penalty box for crosschecking.

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New York scored on two of its first five shots.

Nashville cut New York's lead in half when center Colin Wilson swatted a puck by Halak's stick side during a scramble in front of the net with 1.2 seconds left in the first period.

Wilson reached the 20-goal mark for the first time in his third NHL season.

Defenseman Nick Leddy fired a wrist shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle to beat Rinne to the stick side, increasing the Islanders' lead to 3-1 at 8:39 of the third period.

"After the first period, we played some of the best hockey we've played all year," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "They came at us hard, and we sustained the pressure. It probably shouldn't have been a 2-0 game, but we were resilient and played with good structure the last couple of (periods)."

The Islanders took a two-point lead over the idle New York Rangers for first place in the Metropolitan Division.

Ellis, who missed 24 of the previous 25 games with a lower-body injury, returned to the lineup for the first time since a Feb. 26 loss to the Minnesota Wild.

 

The Predators, who have never won the division in their 16-year history, hold a four-point lead over the second-place St. Louis Blues in the Central.

NOTES: Only 12,107 fans made it to the game as ice and snow made road conditions hazardous in Middle Tennessee. Free popcorn was offered to fans who managed to get to the game. ... This was the Predators' 21st game in 36 days, the NHL's busiest stretch during that span. ... Nashville plays 12 of its last 16 games against Western Conference opponents. ... Islanders F Matt Martin did not play after being suspended Wednesday for kneeing Dallas D Trevor Daley in an overtime loss Tuesday. ... Three New York forwards are out with injuries: C Tyler Kennedy (upper body), C Mikhail Grabovski (concussion) and RW Kyle Okposo (eye).

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