COLUMBUS, Ohio — Kevin Fiala scored twice to lead the Nashville Predators to a 5-3 preseason victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.
Filip Forsberg, Miikka Salomaki, Pontus Aberg also scored for the Predators. Anders Lindback stopped 16 of 17 shots he faced over the first half of the game, and Juuse Saros gave up two goals on 16 shots the rest of the way.
Cam Atkinson, Zach Werenski and Alexander Weinberg scored for Columbus, and Sergei Bobrovsky had 25 saves.
Fiala, who broke his left femur in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against St. Louis, extended the Predators' lead to 3-1 late in the second period. After Werenski pulled Columbus within one early in the third, Aberg's power-play goal made it 4-2 at 7:31. Wennberg got the Blue Jackets within one again with 7:47 remaining, but Fiala sealed the win in the final minute.
PANTHERS 4, LIGHTNING 2
In Tampa Bay, Florida, Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist to help the Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2.
Jamie McGinn, Evgeni Dadonov and Radim Vrbata also scored for the Panthers, and James Reimer stopped 27 shots.
Alexander Volkov scored twice for the Lightning, and Peter Budaj finished with 24 saves.
Dadonov scored the tiebreaking goal off a feed from Huberdeau with just under 5 minutes remaining in the second. Vrbata then pushed the lead to 3-1 at 4:34 of the third.
After Volkov pulled the Lightning within one a little more than 8 minutes later, Huberdeau sealed the win with 1:05 remaining.
AVALANCHE 5, WILD 1
In Denver, Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals and assisted on another — all in the third period — to power the Colorado Avalanche to a 5-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.
Mikko Rantanen scored Colorado's other third-period goal. J.T. Compher and Rocco Grimaldi also scored for the Avalanche, and Semyon Varlamov had 28 saves.
Marcus Foligno scored for the Wild. Niklas Svedberg stopped all 17 shots he faced over the first 31 1/2 minutes. Steve Michalek then allowed all five Colorado goals on 22 shots.
The Associated Press
