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National Hockey League
Nashville 3, NY Rangers 2
When: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, October 4, 2018
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Referees: Ghislain Hebert, Chris Rooney
Linesmen: Greg Devorski, James Tobias
Attendance: 17117

P.K. Subban scored the tiebreaking goal with 16:32 left in the third period and the Nashville Predators spoiled the coaching debut of David Quinn with a 3-2 victory over the host New York Rangers on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

The defenseman gave the reigning Presidents' Trophy champions the lead after Rangers defenseman Adam McQuaid was injured by a high stick that went uncalled. Colton Sissons won the faceoff in the left circle, made a quick pass to Mattias Ekholm, who dished to Subban, whose blast from the right point sailed over Henrik Lundqvist's left shoulder.

Sissons added an empty-net goal, which turned out to be the game-winner when Pavel Buchnevich scored on a deflection with 24.1 seconds remaining.

Filip Forsberg scored in the second period for the Predators, who improved to 11-8-1 in season openers.

Jesper Fast also scored in the second for the Rangers, who hired Quinn from Boston University after they were coached by Alain Vigneault for the previous five seasons.

Pekka Rinne made 34 saves for Nashville, including several key stops down the stretch.

Lundqvist stopped 30 shots in his 13th straight season opener with the Rangers.

After an evenly played opening period, the teams traded goals nearly four minutes apart in the middle period.

Forsberg made it 1-0 with 16:06 remaining by completing a partial odd-man rush following New York's carelessness with the puck in the offensive zone. He finished the play by snapping a shot from close range by Lundqvist's glove side.

With 12:23 left, Fast finished off an effective sequence of New York forechecking. He helped the Rangers retain possession and converted Filip Chytil's backhanded pass from behind the net by lifting a shot from the right side of the crease by Rinne's pads.

The Rangers got their first power play with six minutes left when Kyle Turris was whistled for slashing Brady Skjei, but were unable to score, and Rinne made a tremendous stick save on Mats Zuccarello with about 2 1/2 minutes left.

Moments after pulling Lundqvist for the extra attacker, the Rangers were whistled for too many men on the ice in anticipation of a penalty on Subban. Following the subsequent faceoff, Sissons scored into the empty net on a long shot with 84 seconds left

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Nashville   NY Rangers
Colton Sissons 2 Points Pavel Buchnevich 1
Colton Sissons 1 Goals Pavel Buchnevich 1
Mattias Ekholm 2 Assists Filip Chytil 1
N/A Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Pekka Rinne .944 Save Percentage Henrik Lundqvist .938
Pekka Rinne 34 Saves Henrik Lundqvist 30
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Nashville 33 3 0-1 1-1 6 32
NY Rangers 36 2 0-1 1-1 6 29
Upcoming Games
  • NY Rangers will play their next game on the road against Buffalo. The Rangers have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .000 after a loss.
  • Nashville will play their next game on the road against NY Islanders. The Predators have a W/L % of 1.000 after a win and .000 after a loss.