Final
  for this game

Preds strike early in win over Coyotes

Nov 26, 2013 - 4:10 AM Nashville, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - Nick Spaling scored close to a minute into the game to help lead the Nashville Predators to a 4-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes at Bridgestone Arena.

Mike Fisher, Gabriel Bourque, and Shea Weber also lit the lamp in the win. Marek Mazanec turned away 29 shots for the Predators, who have won four of their last five games.

Antoine Vermette and Tim Kennedy both scored in the second period for the Coyotes, who have now dropped three straight. Mike Smith allowed three goals on 28 shots.

Matt Cullen raced into the Phoenix zone to track down the puck and took a quick shot that was steered aside by Smith. Spaling was there to put home the rebound 1:02 into the first.

A little over seven minutes later, Colin Wilson passed to Fisher, who connected on a one-timer through two defensemen and past Smith to give the Predators a 2-0 lead.

Nashville surged through the neutral zone and Viktor Stalberg dished a pass under a defender's stick to Bourque, who lifted a backhander over Smith with less than two minutes to go in the first.

Phoenix got on the board in the second. Kyle Chipchura forced a turnover after a throwing a hard hit on David Legwand. Vermette took the loose puck and fired from the left circle past Mazanec halfway through the second.

Kennedy backhanded a rebound past a sliding Mazanec to make it a 3-2 game with seven minutes left in the second.

Weber scored on an empty net in the third to seal the win for Nashville.

Game Notes

This was the second of three meetings. Phoenix won the first matchup 5-4 in a shootout on Oct. 31 ... Phoenix's Shane Doan did not play the third period and left with a lower-body injury ... Phoenix edged Nashville in shots, 31-29.