Stars blast stumbling Predators 9-2

Matt Duchene had two goals and two assists against his former team and the visiting Dallas Stars cruised to a 9-2 win against the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.

Wyatt Johnston had two goals and an assist for the Stars, who are 10-2-1 in their past 13 games, and Tyler Seguin and Ty Dellandrea each had a goal and two assists. Jake Oettinger stopped 20 of 22 shots before Scott Wedgewood came on to start the third period.

Cole Smith and Tommy Novak scored for the Predators, who completed a 1-3 homestand. Juuse Saros was lifted after allowing four goals in the first period. Kevin Lankinen stopped 18 of 23 shots.

Dallas outshot Nashville 18-1 during a dominant first period.

Sam Steel opened the scoring just 35 seconds into the game when he collected a Nashville turnover near center ice, entered the zone and beat Saros with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.

Another Nashville turnover led to the second Stars goal as Mason Marchment stole the puck at center ice, entered the zone 2-on-1 and passed across to Duchene, who knocked it home at 4:27.

Steel controlled a turnover in the Nashville zone and slid the puck across the crease for Craig Smith to tip it in, increasing the lead to 3-0 at 12:31.

Johnston knocked in a loose puck during a scramble in front to make it 4-0 at 15:53.

Miro Heiskanen upped the lead to 5-0 at 4:40 of the second period, scoring in close off a pass from Johnston.

Smith got Nashville on the board at 9:50 when he scored from the left circle, knocking in the rebound of Michael McCarron's shot from the right side.

Seguin increased the lead to 6-1 when he knocked in a rebound during a power play at 10:51.

Novak pulled the Predators within 6-2 when he scored on a backhand shot from the slot at 11:21, but Duchene closed out the period with a backhand shot of his own to make it 7-2 at 19:47.

Dellandrea's slap shot from the right circle made it 8-2 at 3:50 of the third period and Johnston closed out the scoring with a power-play goal at 8:50.

Wedgewood saved all seven shots he faced in the third period while giving Oettinger some rest.