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Hartman’s brace keeps Predators atop NHL summit

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Ryan Hartman scored two goals in the second period and Nashville scored the final four goals of the contest, as the Predators pummeled Vegas, 4-1.

The Vegas Golden Knights recent resurgence hit a bump in the road on Tuesday night in Nashville.

Coming into Tuesday’s game on NBCSN, Vegas had cobbled together a 4-1-1 record in the previous six outings to turn around a shaky start to the season.

But few teams have bested the Predators this season and Vegas wasn’t going to be one of them in a 4-1 Nashville win.

Predators goalie Juuse Saros was thrown into a starting role earlier this month after Pekka Rinne went down with injury and had performed admirably entering Tuesday.

Saros helped Nashville weather the first-period storm, turning aside 12-of-13 shots while the Predators could only muster five.

With an intermission to right the ship, Nashville reappeared as a different team in the second -- a more normal version of themselves.

Ryan Hartman led the way, scoring twice in 57 seconds to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. Hartman’s two goals were his first multi-goal game for the Predators since joining them from Chicago last season. Hartman had six points in 21 games with the Predators to finish off the regular season last year.

In 12 games this year, he’s already equaled that mark with three goals and three assists.

The Golden Knights came into Tuesday tied for 29th in the league in goals-for per game, a goal-and-a-half off their torrid pace to start the season last year. Luck hasn’t been on their side so far this season, and that low scoring number didn’t receive a boost in their loss to Nashville.

Vegas came out of the starting gates with purpose and the feverish start was rewarded when Reilly Smith notched his third of the season on the power play.

But the Golden Knights’ side of the jumbotron didn’t see any further action for the rest of the night as Nashville would respond with four unanswered goals.

The Predators continue to rule the roost with a 9-3-0 record.

MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule


Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck