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Erat's natural hat trick lifts Predators

Mar 5, 2008 - 6:27 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Martin Erat recorded a natural hat trick as the Nashville Predators tallied three times in the first period en route to a 5-1 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.

J.P. Dumont and defenseman Ville Koistinen also scored and Dan Ellis made 29 saves for Nashville, which won all four meetings with Edmonton for the second consecutive season.

Rather than trumpet his own accomplishments, Erat elected to credit his linemates - David Legwand and Jan Hlavac - for his recent success.

"I've felt good the last couple of games," Erat said. "When I'm playing with Legwand and Hlavac, it's a great chemistry. It feels so good on the ice when you can pass the puck and you get it back."

"We want him to shoot more, and he did that and it went in," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "That line has a lot of chemistry (and) they seem to control a lot of the play. They skated well, and Marty's a guy that can score more for us."

Blue-liner Tom Gilbert netted the lone tally for the Oilers, who saw their season-high four-game winning streak come to an end.

"I thought the keys were that we scored on our chances," Trotz said. "They had chances - they might have had more chances than we did. We were able to capitalize on their mistakes and we got to (goaltender Mathieu Garon) early."

After Dumont opened the scoring just 55 seconds into the contest, Erat recorded his first goal of the evening nearly three minutes later by beating Garon from the top of the right faceoff circle.

Erat picked up his second goal with 6:51 remaining in the first period by wristing a shot from just inside of the blue line past a screened Garon.

The netminder stopped nine of the 12 shots he faced in the first period before giving way to Dwayne Roloson at the start the second. Roloson finished with 10 saves.

"I wasn't thinking about getting a chance to play or not, I was worried about the guys coming back and winning the hockey game," Roloson said. "It's unfortunate that we played the way we did."

Erat greeted Roloson rudely, capping his first career hat trick just 54 seconds into the period. The Czech collected the rebound of defenseman Shea Weber's shot and tucked the puck past the netminder for his 21st goal of the season.

Gilbert gave the faithful at Rexall Place a reason to cheer nearly five minutes later by beating Ellis from just outside the right circle for his 10th of the campaign.

Koistinen restored Nashville's four-goal advantage just four minutes later, converting a 2-on-1 rush for his fourth goal.

Oilers coach Craig MacTavish had no answers for his team's inability to beat the Predators.

"It's an embarrassment to have lost eight games in a row to a team," he said. "You have to find an answer, and we haven't been able to find one yet."