The Nashville Predators used two first-period power-play goals to defeat the Dallas Stars 2-1 on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena.
Dallas opened the scoring just 47 seconds into the contest when Miro Heiskanen snapped a wrist shot past Juuse Saros at even strength. Mikko Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston picked up the assists on Heiskanen's first goal of the season.
Nashville answered quickly on the man advantage. Steven Stamkos tied the game 1-1 at 4:46 of the first period with a snap shot, assisted by Ryan O'Reilly and Roman Josi. Later in the frame, Nils Hoglander netted the go-ahead goal at 15:49 on another power play, deflecting a shot home with assists from Jack Ahcan and Alexander Kerfoot to give the Predators a 2-1 lead.
Saros stopped 29 of 30 shots to earn the victory for the Predators, while Dallas goaltender Casey DeSmith turned aside 24 of 26 shots in the loss. Nashville converted 2 of 3 opportunities on the power play, while the Stars went 0 for 1 with the man advantage.
The victory moved the Predators to 1-1-0 on the regular season. Dallas dropped to 0-2-0 and remains winless through its first two games of the year.
Dallas returns to action on Tuesday, October 20, when it hosts the Boston Bruins. Nashville will play next on Thursday, October 22, when it visits the Bruins.
