Nashville, Tennessee: Swiss winger Nino Niederreiter scored twice to give the Minnesota Wild a 4-2 win at Nashville on Thursday, handing the NHL-leading Predators only their fourth defeat on home ice this season.
The win moved Minnesota into the provisional play-off positions in the Western Conference, while Nashville’s overall league lead was trimmed to four points ahead of Eastern Conference leaders Montreal, who won convincingly at Columbus.
St Louis trimmed the Predators’ Central Division lead by winning a shootout at Winnipeg, while elsewhere Detroit scored a late winner in a comeback victory at San Jose and Chicago showed there was life after Patrick Kane’s injury by winning comfortably at Florida.
Minnesota goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves as he improved to 14-3-2 since being acquired by the Wild in mid-January.
Erik Haula and Kyle Brodziak also scored for Minnesota. Niederreiter sealed the win with an empty net goal with 1:39 remaining.
Nashville’s Mike Fisher had a goal and an assist and Craig Smith scored for the Predators, who had won their previous six games.
