DENVER (AP) Now that was more of the start Nashville was looking for. The finish? Not as much.Filip Forsberg scored another creative goal Anton Khudobin Jersey Womens , Pekka Rinne rebounded from a rocky performance with 31 saves, and the Predators withstood a furious rally by the Colorado Avalanche for a 3-2 win in Game 4 on Wednesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series.”I guess probably some teams, every once in a while, can say everything is perfect. Everything is awesome,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. ”But most times you’re trying to work on something, trying to get better at something.”For the first time all series, the Avs were held scoreless in the opening period and the Predators built a 3-0 cushion heading into the final period.Colton Sissons and Craig Smith also scored for the Predators, who can close out the series Friday when it shifts back to Nashville for Game 5.”We don’t want it to end at all,” Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon said. ”We’re still in it. It’s not over yet.”Rinne was solid early after being pulled from the last game. Cruising along and up 3-0, the Vezina Trophy finalist allowed Gabriel Landeskog’s 5-on-3 power-play goal in the third and another on Alexander Kerfoot’s tap-in off a rebound with 8:59 remaining.Colin Wilson nearly tied with about 2 minutes left when his shot appeared to hit the post. The Avalanche pulled backup goalie Andrew Hammond late, but couldn’t get the tying goal. Tyson Jost sent a shot over the net at the buzzer.”It was a good push by them,” Forsberg said.Forsberg worked his puck-handling magic in the first period by dancing around defenseman Duncan Siemens and juking Jonathan Bernier for his third goal of the series. The ever-creative Forsberg had an artistic goal in Game 1 as well, when he sent the puck through the defenseman’s legs before scoring.”Just tried to use my speed wide and use that speed all the way around the net Wade Megan Jersey Womens ,” Forsberg said.Bernier allowed three goals on 26 shots before being replaced by Hammond to start the third period due to a lower body injury. Hammond had eight saves.Forsberg and his crew came out with a little more spring in their skates for Game 4. This may have played a role: The team went through an up-tempo practice the day before. It was a way to avoid a sluggish start like Monday when Colorado scored three times in the first period of Game 3.The strategy worked. Nashville controlled the tempo except for a frenzied stretch in the third.”We knew we weren’t going to go 16-0,” Forsberg said. ”We were going to lose a game throughout these playoffs and obviously we were just looking to bounce back.”Now, the Avs are looking to regroup.”I’m obviously upset at the result, but I loved our third, there’s no question,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. ”But we need to find that urgency earlier.”There was a scary moment in the second period when MacKinnon’s stick caught teammate Mikko Rantanen near the eye. Rantanen left with a towel pressed against his face, only to return a few minutes later.But not before the Predators scored another goal as Smith zoomed out of the penalty box and beat Bernier with a wrist shot to make it 3-0.From there, things turned a little testy. Landeskog hit a tumbling Ryan Johansen, who headed to the dressing room. He returned in the third period.P.K. Subban got the crowd fired up early by shooting a puck into Colorado’s net in the pregame warmups. He’s stepped into the villain’s role after delivering a blow to the side of MacKinnon’s helmet during Game 3. Subban was booed each time he touched the puck.The Predators came out firing on all cylinders, even going on an early 5-on-3 power play for 1:20. They but couldn’t get anything past Bernier, but they did knock Bernier’s mask momentarily out of commission when Viktor Arvidsson’s slap shot caught him square him in the cage. Bernier skated over to the bench to grab his backup one. He later returned to his original one.NOTES: Predators F Calle Jarnkrok returned after missing the last 16 games with an upper-body injury. … Rinne felt honored to be a finalist for the award that goes to the league’s top goaltender. ”Even though it’s an individual award, I couldn’t do it without my teammates,” he said. … Avs D Samuel Girard missed a third straight game with an upper-body injury. … Avs F Carl Soderberg took a bit hit from RW Ryan Hartman in the third that drew a charging penalty.— COLUMBUS Tobias Rieder Jersey Womens , Ohio (AP) — Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers jumped all over the listless Columbus Blue Jackets.Draisaitl had a goal and two assists, Mikko Koskinen made 30 saves and the Oilers beat the Blue Jackets 4-0 on Saturday.“It was another good team performance,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “You don’t have to have the best players in the league to be successful, you need to have the best team, and that’s what we’re proving night in and night out. We’ve got a hell of a team going on right now, and we’re not going to let go of the rope.”Columbus had won three of four, including a high-energy overtime victory against Philadelphia on Thursday night. The Blue Jackets are fighting to stay above the wild-card line in the Eastern Conference, but they were off right from the start against Edmonton.“The way we played, the way we turned the puck over in the neutral zone, their guys had it easy, I think,” Columbus defenseman Seth Jones said. “We didn’t have any sustained forecheck, we didn’t make their top lines play defense Mike Hoffman Jersey Womens , I thought, for long stretches of the night. That’s what they want.”Columbus coach John Tortorella’s postgame session with reporters lasted all of 36 seconds.“I’m not going to pick it apart,” he said. “We’re moving right by it.”Zack Kassian, Josh Currie and Alex Chiasson also scored for the Oilers, who are 4-1-1 since a five-game losing streak. Connor McDavid had three assists.Koskinen improved to 18-15-4 with his fourth career shutout — all this season.Sergei Bobrovsky had 15 saves for Columbus before he was pulled after two periods. Joonas Korpisalo stopped each of the five shots he faced, but Columbus still couldn’t generate any offense.Kassian, who broke Brandon Dubinsky’s eye socket in a fight in his previous game at Columbus, got his 10th goal of the season 6:27 into the game, going high to beat Bobrovsky from the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Draisaitl.Early in the second period, the Oilers had their way for a long stretch in the Columbus zone, picking at the edges until McDavid circled around the net and fed Currie, who scored his second of the season at 5:07.Draisaitl then buried a shot from the right circle after a give-and-go with McDavid, making it 3-0 at 8:53. Draisaitl became the third NHL player to reach 40 goals this season Peter Budaj Jersey Womens , behind only Washington’s Alex Ovechkin and Chicago’s Patrick Kane.Chiasson broke a 21-game goal drought when he scored the Oilers’ fourth late in the second, eliciting boos from the Nationwide Arena crowd.“What, is there 17 games left?” Chaisson said. “We’re all playing 17 playoff games. For us, we can’t look too forward. We have to focus on what we can control. With that mind set, and we keep our energy level up and everyone is buying in and playing the right way, we have a chance.”Hitchcock said Edmonton is reaping the benefits of great team play for about the past month and believes his team is in striking distance for a Western Conference playoff spot.“If you keep playing at this level,” he said, “eventually the hockey gods help you out.”NOTES: Draisaitl is 32nd Edmonton player to have a 40-plus goal season. He has eight goals and seven assists in the last 10 games. … McDavid has five points in his last three games. He has 90 this season, third in the NHL.UP NEXTOilers: Visit Buffalo on Monday.Blue Jackets: Host Winnipeg on Sunday.