Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves and Roman Josi had two assists as the Nashville Predators beat the Florida Panthers 2-1 on Thursday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Lankinen posted his second straight win — both of them against Florida. He hadn’t played since beating the Panthers 7-3 on Feb. 18. Josi leads Nashville with 56 points.
Matt Duchene and John Leonard scored for the Predators. It was Duchene’s 19th goal, tying him with Filip Forsberg for the team lead. Leonard, making his season debut as well as his Predators debut, scored his fifth career goal in his 59th game.
Luke Evangelista, a second-round draft pick in 2020, earned his first NHL point with an assist on Duchene’s goal. It was his second NHL game.
Nashville, which has won four of its past five games, also got solid play from defenseman Tyson Barrie, who made his Predators debut after being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.
Defenseman Brandon Montour scored his 11th goal of the season for the Panthers, tying his career high.
Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 20 shots as his record fell to 18-17-2.
It was a poor start for the Panthers’ seven-game homestand, the team’s longest Sunrise stretch of the season.
The Panthers again played without forwards Aleksander Barkov (hand) and Sam Bennett (lower body). It is possible both players could return on Saturday when Florida hosts the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Nashville opened the scoring with 13:40 gone in the first period on Duchene’s power-play goal. Florida defenseman Radko Gudas was sent off for tripping Evangelista, and seven seconds later, Duchene scored off a pass from Evangelista.
The Predators extended their lead to 2-0 on Leonard’s goal with 11 seconds left in the first. Josi, after working a give-and-go with Cody Glass, made a brilliant move and dropped the puck off to Leonard, who scored from close range.
Florida got on the board with 3:21 expired in the second. A big hit by Gudas led to a three-on-one Panthers rush. Ryan Lomberg led the break, and his backhand pass found the stick of Montour, who scored into the open left side of Nashville’s net.
–Field Level Media
