Ryan O'Reilly produced two goals and two assists as the Nashville Predators defeated the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 at Bridgestone Arena on Sunday. Nashville relied on a lethal power-play unit that scored four times to build a commanding lead and pull away.
Filip Forsberg opened the scoring for Nashville at 4:01 of the first period, converting on the power play with a snap shot. Steven Stamkos pushed the lead to 2-0 midway through the frame, beating Scott Wedgewood with an even-strength wrist shot at 10:48. O'Reilly widened the margin at 6:38 of the second period with a backhand goal on another man advantage.
The Predators broke the game open late in the second period with two goals in less than a minute. Jack Drury tucked home an even-strength backhander at 16:36, and O'Reilly struck again on the power play at 17:29 with a wrist shot. Artturi Lehkonen answered for Colorado 26 seconds later by tipping in a feed from Martin Necas to make it 5-1. Devon Toews cut the deficit to three early in the third period with an even-strength wrist shot, but Stamkos sealed the result at 10:24 with his second power-play wrist shot of the evening.
Nashville converted 4 of 7 power-play opportunities and limited Colorado to 0 of 4 with the man advantage. Justus Annunen earned the win in net for the Predators by stopping 19 of 21 shots. Wedgewood took the loss for the Avalanche after allowing six goals on 35 shots as Nashville controlled the offensive zone and won 37 of 60 faceoffs.
The result moved the Predators to 4-3-4 on the season, while the Avalanche fell to 6-5-1. Stamkos finished with two goals and an assist, Forsberg added a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi registered three assists to contribute to Nashville's multi-point performances.
Both teams continue their regular-season schedules at home. The Predators host the New York Islanders on Tuesday, while the Avalanche host the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
