Predators 3, Coyotes 0
Pekka Rinne celebrated his new contract by making 35 saves as the Nashville Predators skated to a 3-0 road victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday.
Jonathan Blum, Patric Hornqvist and Matt Halischuk scored for Nashville, which improved to 1-0-1 on its season-high five-game road trip and won for just the fourth time in 12 visits to Phoenix.
Rinne signed a seven-year, $49 million contract extension on Thursday afternoon. He proved his worth hours later, turning aside eight shots in the first period, 13 in the second and 14 in the third for his second shutout in three games and third overall this season.
Blum gave Rinne all the offensive support he needed eight minutes into the second period, beating a screened Jason LaBarbera with a wrist shot from the right point for his first goal of the season.
Halischuk doubled the lead with four minutes left in the session and Hornqvist extended his goal-scoring streak to four games with an empty-netter late in the third.
LaBarbera made 28 saves for the Coyotes, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.