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Tuesday, Mar. 28 8:00pm ET
Predators end three-game skid | |||||
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BOX SCORE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Cliff Ronning continues to be a bright spot in an often lackluster season for the Nashville Predators. Ronning picked up his team-leading 24th goal Tuesday night in the first period, on his only shot of the game, in the Predators' 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders. "Cliff's been our best player all year," defenseman Bill Houlder said. "Night in and night out he's done a great job helping out (linemate) David Legwand." Legwand, the Predators' prized rookie forward, assisted on Ronning's goal. Nashville's Ville Peltonen and Craig Millar scored goals 1:46 apart in the second period. The Predators snapped a three-game losing streak in the battle of last-place teams. New York, despite Mariusz Czerkawski's 30th goal, dropped its third straight and fifth in six games. "To let it slip away like this is just unacceptable the last few games," Czerkawski said. Ronning scored the only goal of the first period on a rebound of a shot by Patric Kjellberg. After Islanders goalie Kevin Weekes got a piece of Kjellberg's shot, it banged off the crossbar and towards Ronning, who pushed it in at 10:22 for his 24th goal. The Predators seemed to break it open when Peltonen and Millar scored but New York made it close in the third. First Peltonen ripped a one-timer that deflected high over Weekes and in at 12:06. "I couldn't see it," Weekes said. "I knew I made the first save and there was so much commotion when the puck went into the air." The teams were skating 4-on-4 when Peltonen scored. Millar grabbed a loose puck in front and scored at 13:52. Vitali Yachmenev began the play by winning a battle along the boards, and Nashville built a 3-0 lead. "I don't think we were as intense in the earlier stages of the second period," Weekes said. New York's Aris Brimanis fired a slap shot from the high slot past Nashville goalie Mike Dunham on the power play with 4:23 left in the third to make it 3-1. Czerkawski then whacked the rebound of his own shot past Dunham near the right post with 3:43 remaining. It is Czerkawski's first 30-goal season. "It's always nice to accomplish something like that, but of course it would have been nicer if it had come in a win," Czerkawski said. The Isles finished 2-for-9 on the power play. Nashville went 0-for-5. "When you run into all those penalties, it kind of takes away your momentum," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We're just not going to win too many hockey games with that many penalties." | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard NY Islanders Clubhouse Nashville Clubhouse RECAPS Washington 5 Atlanta 2
Nashville 3
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