Smith's rare goal lifts Predators past Blue Jackets
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Craig Smith entered the third period of Thursday night's game as the owner of just one goal in his last 27 games.
He surpassed that in just over five minutes of the third period, enabling the Nashville Predators to go into the All-Star break with a 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Bridgestone Arena.
Playing without coach John Tortorella, who flew back to Columbus earlier in the day to attend to a family emergency that will keep him from coaching the Metropolitan Division in Sunday's All-Star action at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Blue Jackets (32-12-4) dropped to 5-7-0 since their 16-game winning streak ended Jan. 5.
Smith had much to do with that. His rebound marker off Mattias Ekholm's backhand wraparound try at 6:03 gave Nashville (24-17-8) a 3-1 lead.
After Zach Werenski cut the Predators' lead to 3-2 with a wrister at 9:12 during 4-on-4 action, Smith smoked a wrister from the bottom of the right faceoff circle past Sergei Bobrovsky at 11:18 for his ninth goal of the season.
A replay review gave defenseman Matt Murray a goal at 17:11 as his shot from the right post snuck by Pekka Rinne and just over the goal line, pulling Columbus within a goal. But the Blue Jackets couldn't generate the tying marker, even after pulling Bobrovsky for a sixth attacker with about two minutes left.
Rinne (19-12-6) made 30 saves for Nashville, while Bobrovsky (28-9-2) stopped 28 of 32 shots.
Columbus started the scoring after withstanding an early flurry of shots by Nashville. Brandon Saad flicked in a wrister from the high slot at 9:25 of the first period, his 16th goal of the season and one that extended the Blue Jackets' scoring advantage to 52-27 in the opening 20 minutes.
As it has done all season, Nashville responded with a strong second period. Calle Jarnkrok equalized at 5:41 with a power-play marker, taking Colin Wilson's pass in the slot and slotting a wrister off the tip of Sergei Bobrovsky's catching glove for his seventh goal.
The fourth line gave the Predators their first lead as Harry Zolnierczyk poked a rebound just over the goal line at 9:01 for his first NHL goal since Feb. 5, 2014, when he was playing for Pittsburgh against Buffalo. It was Zolnierczyk's sixth career tally in 72 games.
NOTES: Columbus RW Cam Atkinson, who's second in the NHL with 24 goals, was added to the Metropolitan Division's All-Star team Thursday as a replacement for Pittsburgh's Evgeny Malkin. ... Nashville LW Harry Zolnierczyk drew back into the lineup after being scratched Tuesday night, skating on the fourth line with Cody McLeod and Colton Sissons. ... The Blue Jackets scratched LW Markus Hannikainen, D Dalton Prout and D Markus Nutivaara. ... Predators scratches included C Mike Ribeiro, D Brad Hunt and C Derek Grant.