Final Score: Nashville 6, Edmonton 3

Edmonton, AB (Sports Network) - Patric Hornqvist tallied two goals and an assist to stoke another offensive onslaught by Nashville in a 6-3 final over Edmonton at Rexall Place.

Joel Ward, Ryan Jones, Jerred Smithson and Marcel Goc also found the back of the net for the Predators, who were coming off a 7-4 home rout of Tampa Bay.

The club survived a shaky start in net by starter Pekka Rinne to win for the fifth time in six games. Rinne was pulled after allowing a pair of goals on just four shots in the first period. Dan Ellis came on to make 21 saves the rest of the way.

The Predators have gone 13-3-2 since November 13 and tied Chicago atop the Central Division with Thursday's win. Nashville has now won in six of its last seven trips to Edmonton.

Robert Nilsson scored twice for the Oilers, who have lost two in a row since ripping off a season-best five straight wins. Lubomir Visnovsky registered a goal and an assist, while Jeff Deslauriers gave up all six goals on 27 shots.

"It's frustrating for all of us because we know we can play well. We've had some recent success so there's no reason why we shouldn't be a little more confident than we have been in the last two games," said Oilers blueliner Sheldon Souray.

Edmonton got to Rinne early with goals from Nilsson and Visnovsky in the opening five minutes of the game.

Nashville, though, tallied the next four goals after a timeout and a goalie change to grab a two-goal edge. Jones' fourth of the season opened the stretch at 12:13 of the first and Ward and Goc scored 50 seconds apart late in the frame for a 3-2 lead after 20 minutes.

"We came out of the blocks extremely slow. We really didn't give Pekka much help there and they scored two quick ones. We had the goalie change there and had the timeout and just kind of straightened things out and came out with some jump after that," said Smithson.

Hornqvist got his first of the game 8:18 into the second before Nilsson's power-play goal got the Oilers back to within one at 4-3 with 5:50 to play in the second. Hornqvist, though, restored the two-goal lead for Nashville on the power play inside the final minute.

Smithson's sixth goal on the year represented the third period's lone score and Ellis stopped all 10 shots in the frame to assure a Predators win.

Game Notes

Nashville will close out a three-game road trip with stops in Calgary and Vancouver...Jones has lit the lamp in each of the Predators' last four contests...Edmonton fell to 0-2-0 on a four-game homestand and has dropped each of its last four tests (0-3-1) at Rexall Place.