Nashville, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - Colin Wilson registered a season high of four points thanks to two goals and two assists as the Nashville Predators downed the Vancouver Canucks, 5-1, at Bridgestone Arena.
Craig Smith, Filip Forsberg and Mike Fisher also tallied for the Predators, the Central Division leaders who have won four in a row and six of their last seven.
Pekka Rinne stopped 20-of-21 shots before exiting early in the third period. The Finnish netminder was knocked backwards into the end boards in a collision between Vancouver's Chris Higgins and defenseman Anton Volchenkov. He was listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Carter Hutton finished the final 17-plus minutes with 10 stops.
"They came right away, I didn't have much chance to get ready," said Hutton. "That's your job as a backup, always be ready to go out there at any minute of the game."
Alex Edler supplied the lone offense and Eddie Lack stopped just 25-of-30 shots for the Canucks, who have lost three in a row.
Forsberg provided the hosts with some breathing room at 13:32 of the third period. He swept a puck off the boards along the right wing in the neutral zone, dodged Edler, then managed to squeeze a shot between Lack's arm and body.
"It's disappointing because we battled back. That third goal is a save I have to make," Lack admitted.
Fisher made it a three-goal margin only 1:59 later, when he beat a Lack pokecheck and flipped home a James Neal lead pass, and it was a 5-1 contest just over two minutes later on a power play after Smith's shot off a Seth Jones rebound clipped Wilson on its way into the Vancouver cage.
Smith struck just after the four-minute mark of the first on the game's initial power play and Wilson doubled the hosts' advantage with 6:22 played by pumping home a shot from the right wing off a 2-on-1 break.
Edler's blast pulled the Canucks within a goal at the 2:47 mark of the second period.
Game Notes
Wilson has posted 10 points over his last six games (4G, 6A) ... Vancouver had won three in a row and five of their last six in the Music City prior to Tuesday ... Neal picked up a pair of assists.
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