Andrei Kostitsyn had a goal and an assist and Pekka Rinne made 39 saves as the Nashville Predators defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 Saturday at Sunrise, Fla.
The victory, the fifth in the last seven games, was Nashville’s first in regulation in nine all-time contests at Florida.
Kostitsyn, playing his second game since being acquired in a trade with Montral, scored the game’s first goal — and put the Predators ahead to stay — with a shot from the right wing circle at 11:35 of the first period. He added the primary assist on David Legwand’s third-period goal, which made it 3-1 with 12:58 to play.
Kostitsyn, whose last game with the Canadiens was at Florida last Sunday. did not have a point in his previous 10 games and had not scored a goal since Feb. 2, 13 games ago. His last multi-point game was Jan. 20.
Mike Fisher scored the Predators’ other goal 28 seconds into the second period. It was his team-leading 19th of the season and his 12th in the last 21 games.
Florida outshot Nashville 40-23, including 15-6 in the first period. Rinne stopped all but one and improved to 35-13-7 on the season, which moved him within one of Tomas Vokoun’s franchise record for wins in a season. Vokoun won 36 in 2005-06.
Nashville opens a three-game homestand — all against Western Conference competition — Tuesday against Phoenix.