The Nashville Predators won their fourth game in a row, and 9 of their last 10, on Tuesday night when they beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 at the United Center. The Blackhawks have one of the most impressive home records with only five regulation losses in Chicago entering Tuesday night’s contest.

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Fisher scored his third goal in two nights on Tuesday at United Center in Chicago

 

The Predators now have an 11-2-2 record against Central Division opponents, one of the most difficult divisions in the NHL with four of the five teams in the top six positions in the Western Conference.

It was Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne’s 9th consecutive win.

Chicago played without Captain Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp who have scored 27 and 20 goals respectively. Nashville was without Francis Bouillon and Jerred Smithson, both knocked out of the lineup with an upper-body injury.

Nashville opened scoring with 8:11 left in the first period when rookie Craig Smith fired a shot passed netminder Corey Crawford after Matt Halischuk kept the puck in the zone by getting to a loose puck before the Chicago defenders. Brandon Yip screened Crawford.

Mike Fisher picked up his 12th goal of the year, and third in two nights, when he scored from the slot with only 2:26 left in the opening frame to give the Predators a 2-0 lead. Patric Hornqvist kicked the puck to Fisher in the slot from behind the net for the assist.

The second period was scoreless, but the Blackhawks cut the lead to within one goal in the third period when Dave Bolland scored a power play goal at 7:20 into the final frame.

The Predators were able to score an empty net power play goal when Colin Wilson picked up his 10th goal of the season with 13 seconds remaining in regulation.

Nashville enters the All-Star break in fourth spot in the Western Conference, tied for 64 points with Chicago. Detroit leads the Central Division, as well as the entire NHL, with 67 points on the season.

Shea Weber, Ryan Suter and Craig Smith will participate in All-Star festivities for Nashville. The All-Star game draft is Thursday night. The skills competition will take place on Saturday night and the All-Star game is Sunday afternoon. Coverage will be on NBCSports, formerly Versus.