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Sunday, Mar. 12 3:00pm ET
Skrastins bails out Nashville | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Vitali Yachmenev is playing the role of unsung hero quite well. Yachmenev's 50th career goal and his 14th of the season got Nashville started in a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, just the Predators fourth win in 16 games. "Yachmenev is one of those underrated players," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "He has 14 goals and he hasn't seen any power-play time. Vitali does a good job killing penalties, but he goes unnoticed and doesn't get a lot of fanfare." Rookie defenseman Karlis Skrastins scored the game-winner in the third period as the Predators escaped with a win despite blowing a three-goal lead. Skrastins broke a 3-3 tie with a slap shot 7:15 into the third period, just 58 seconds after Mike Grier scored to complete the Oilers' three-goal comeback. Edmonton dropped its fourth straight and the Oilers remained just one point ahead of eighth-place San Jose in the Western Conference playoff hunt. "We've just got some guys who aren't getting into it early enough. It hurts us," Oilers forward Bill Guerin said. "Momentum is something you get when all your lines are working hard." Yachmenev got the only goal of the first period and the 50th of his career at 18:57. He ripped a shot over goalie Bill Ranford's stick from the left circle. Yachmenev's 14 goals are the most he has scored since his rookie season with Los Angeles five years ago. Cliff Ronning wasted little time making it 2-0 in the second, ripping Patric Kjellberg's pass over Ranford from the right circle at 1:16. Just 1:03 later, the Predators' Mark Mowers and Randy Robitaille crashed the net together and Robitaille whacked it in. Ryan Smyth cut the lead to 3-1 at 6:11 on a soft shot from a tough angle on the right side. Somehow his backhand shot dribbled through Mike Dunham's pads. Todd Marchant made it 3-2 at 9:47, sliding the puck under a fallen Dunham from the right post. After Grier tied it at 6:17 of the third on a point-blank shot, Skrastins scored on a blast from the left point, set up by a drop pass from Ville Peltonen. "Nashville's been tough on us," Oilers coach Kevin Lowe said. "To get down 3-0 and battle back is an incredible thing, so that was a hurting goal for sure." The four goals were the most Nashville has scored since Feb. 23. Dunham, who made 32 saves, made things tougher on himself moments later by firing the puck into the crowd and taking a delay-of-game penalty. "It gave them life, sure it did," Trotz said. But Dunham rallied for his 16th win with several huge saves in the closing minute when Ranford was pulled for a sixth attacker. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Edmonton Clubhouse Nashville Clubhouse RECAPS Carolina 5 Atlanta 1
Nashville 4
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