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Jones lifts Predators over Oilers 5-3

Jan 13, 2010 - 5:45 AM EDMONTON, Alberta(AP) -- A couple of early goals was all it took for the Nashville Predators to shake the confidence of the struggling Edmonton Oilers.

Nashville scored two goals 28 seconds apart five minutes into the game, Ryan Jones had a goal and two assists and the Predators won for the second night in a row, beating Edmonton 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Shea Weber, Marcel Goc, Patric Hornqvist and J.P. Dumont also scored for the Predators, who also won for the sixth time in eight games.

J.F. Jacques, Ryan Potulny and Dustin Penner replied for the Oilers, who have lost five straight and 12 of their last 13. Edmonton is just two points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes for last place in the NHL.

"We were struggling a little bit at home of late," said Nashville head coach Barry Trotz. "Sometimes getting on the road can be good for your hockey team and you can get things in order. I thought we did a really good job of getting on top of them quickly. Their confidence is shaken a little bit and that really helped."

After Edmonton netminder Jeff Deslauriers made a big stop in tight, the puck came back to Weber at the point and he blasted a shot glove-side for his ninth of the year.

Goc later fished a puck away from Tom Gilbert in front and beat Deslauriers with a quick backhand to make it 2-0.

Nashville made it 3-0 with less than a minute to play in the period. A shot by Jones went wide but was picked up behind the net and hooked in by Dumont as Deslauriers got tripped up in his own skates and couldn't get over.

The Predators went ahead 4-0 seven minutes into the second when Hornqvist took a feed from Goc from behind the net and beat Deslauriers for his 18th of the season. Devan Dubnyk replaced Deslauriers after the fourth Predators goal on 14 shots.

"It was a lot of the same," Edmonton assistant captain Sheldon Souray said. "There were a lot of turnovers. It's definitely deflating."

The Oilers finally snapped Pekka Rinne's shutout bid on their 34th shot of the game, seven minutes into the third period as Jacques' wrist shot sneaked through his pads to make it 4-1.

Potulny made it 4-2 with five minutes left on the game's first power play before the Predators put the game away for good with three minutes left on a power-play goal of their own from Jones.

"It's still about turnovers for us," Oilers coach Pat Quinn said. "Good hockey teams don't double-cross themselves."

Notes: Penner rounded out the scoring with another power-play goal with just 21 seconds left for the Oilers. ... It was the Oilers' first game since a four-day minicamp the team held to try working itself out of its recent funk. The Oilers had originally planned a golf trip to Palm Springs. ... The Oilers were without F Gilbert Brule (flu). ... Edmonton had defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky back in the lineup after missing three games with an ankle injury. ... Nashville captain Jason Arnott missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.