LDN - Sports

Predators jump on Coyotes, even series at 1-1

[August 05, 2020] Ryan Johansen had a goal and an assist, and the Nashville Predators evened the best-of-five Western Conference qualifying series with a 4-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes in Game 2 on Tuesday afternoon in Edmonton.

Juuse Saros made 24 saves in his second NHL playoff start, and Nick Bonino, Calle Jarnkrok and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for the Predators.

Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse scored 10 seconds apart in the final minute to prevent the shutout, and Darcy Kuemper made 24 saves for the Coyotes, who were coming off a 4-3 win in Game 1 on Sunday.

Nashville scored on two of its first three shots for a 2-0 lead.

Bonino gave the Predators their first lead of the series when he scored at 7:50 of the first period. Rocco Grimaldi retrieved the puck behind the Arizona net and backhanded a pass to Bonino in the right circle. He quickly swept the puck through traffic and past Kuemper.

Nashville moved ahead 2-0 on a goal by Johansen at 10:27 of the first period.

Arvidsson dropped the puck for Filip Forsberg at the top of the left circle. Forsberg lost the puck as he tried to split two defenders. Kuemper poked it away, but the puck went to Johansen at the bottom of the right circle, and he squeezed it into the net on the short side.

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Jarnkrok made it 3-0 at 6:02 of the second period.

Roman Josi passed to Colton Sissons below the goal line, and he fed Jarnkrok coming through the left circle. Jarnkrok's first shot was blocked by Jakob Chychrun, but his second went through Chychrun's legs and into the net.

Arvidsson added a power-play goal at 13:49 of the third period to stretch the lead to 4-0.

Arizona played without center Nick Schmaltz for a second straight game. He was hit in the head with an elbow in Thursday's exhibition game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Schmaltz led the Coyotes with 45 points (11 goals, 34 assists) during the regular season.

--Field Level Media

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