First-period goals by Filip Forsberg and Tommy Novak held up as the host Nashville Predators snapped the Winnipeg Jets’ 11-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory on Thursday.

Goaltender Juuse Saros made 23 saves as Nashville ended a two-game losing skid, arguably the most important coming in the final minute as Saros turned away a wrist shot by Nikolaj Ehlers on a golden chance to tie the affair.

Neal Pionk scored the lone goal for the Jets, whose franchise-record winning spree began on Dec. 22. Eric Comrie finished with 28 saves for Winnipeg.

The struggling Predators went into the clash having lost eight of 10 games and needed an early spark. They received it when Forsberg opened the scoring at 4:26 of the first period, finding the mark from the top of the left circle after a Ryan O’Reilly face-off win in the offensive zone.

Pionk evened the count at 11:05 with a long point shot that hit the sweet spot, a goal set up by some fantastic forechecking work by Alex Iaffalo and Rasmus Kupari.

However, Novak put the Predators ahead for good with a power-play goal at 15:29 of the opening frame. Luke Evangelista stole the puck deep in the Winnipeg zone, slipped it to the front, and Justin Barron fed a pass across the slot to give Novak a tap-in tally and Nashville’s first man-advantage marker in five games.

The Jets failed to convert a 1:54 five-on-three power play late in the second period and after that looked like a team that had played the night before and traveled. Winnipeg struggled to mount anything of a third-period comeback, managing only four shots on goal in the final frame.

–Field Level Media