NASHVILLE Authentic Daniel Sedin Jersey , Tenn. (AP) A year after an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, the Nashville Predators have been hard at work preparing for the postseason.It’s just a happy byproduct that they’ve matched the NHL’s longest winning streak this season in the process.Austin Watson scored a short-handed goal late in the second period and the Predators beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-2 on Thursday night to extend their franchise-record run to 10 games.The Predators also matched Colorado for the longest winning streak in the NHL this season. The victory kept Nashville’s edge at six points ahead of Winnipeg and Vegas for the Western Conference lead.”We’re focused on the process and what we need to do to be ready come playoff time,” Predators center Ryan Johansen said. ”We’re just taking it day-by-day and looking at our team game and what we can always be improving on and these wins are obviously nice as they keep coming along.”Pekka Rinne made 31 saves to improve to 18-1-1 over his last 20 games.Johansen had a goal and an assist and also fought with Ducks center Ryan Kesler.”What did he have, a fight, a goal and an assist?” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. ”That’s old school.”Craig Smith and Viktor Arvidsson each scored. Filip Forsberg had two assists for Nashville, which honored David Poile before the game for becoming career wins leader among NHL general managers with his 1,320th victory last week.Rickard Rakell scored twice in the third period for the Ducks, who snapped a three-game winning streak. Rakell’s second goal at 16:35 pulled the Ducks within 3-2 before Arvidsson scored over goalie John Gibson’s glove with 1:46 left.The Predators swept the three-game season series against the Ducks, the same team they beat for the Western Conference championship last year. Center Ryan Getzlaf said the Ducks were too tentative early with the puck.”It’s finding that happy medium,” Getzlaf said. ”At times we get too revved up when we come in this building about running everybody over and all the other stuff and forgetting playing hockey.”The puck didn’t drop until after a pre-game ceremony for Poile, who got the record March 1 in Nashville’s 4-2 victory at Edmonton. That win pushed him past Glen Sather (1,319). NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was on hand for the festivities Thursday.The Predators didn’t miss a beat after the delay as Smith scored at 5:26 of the first period with a wrister that beat Gibson glove-side. Then Forsberg found Johansen at the edge of the crease with a pass, and Johansen redirected it for his 10th goal at 15:10.The Ducks went on the power play late in the second period, and the Predators quickly turned that into a 3-0 lead. Colton Sissons skated up and took a shot, then Watson scored off the rebound with 1:18 left for his third short-handed goal this season – tied for second in the NHL.”That was a momentum changer,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. ”I thought we started to impose a little more will in the second period and then we had an opportunity to make it a 1-goal game and then we give up a short-handed goal.”Ducks center Ryan Kesler and Johansen fought on the ensuing faceoff. Johansen said Kesler had been asking to fight for two periods. The Predators center fell after apparently stepping on a stick.”Was that what that was?” Johansen said. ”I hope so, because I went down pretty easy. We’ll go 1-0 Kesler.”Anaheim opened the third taking the first few shots. Arvidsson hit a post for Nashville, then the Ducks came back the other way with Rakell scoring on a pass from Corey Perry at 6:04 of the period. Rakell made it 3-2 with his 30th goal of the season.Notes: Nashville improved to 30-2-3 when leading after two periods. … Smith has 21 goals this season, three away from matching his career best. … Ryan Hartman has four points (two goals, two assists) in six games since Nashville picked up him in a trade from Chicago. … Forsberg has five points (two goals, three assists) in his last five regular-season games against Anaheim. … Rakell has a five-game point streak (seven goals and two assists).UP NEXTDucks: Visit Dallas on Friday night.Predators: Host Devils on Saturday night.—Follow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker— The Buffalo Sabres have one more home game before they hit the road for the first time this season.They would like nothing better than to make it three wins in a row Thursday night when they host the Colorado Avalanche at KeyBank Center.It will conclude a four-game homestand that opened the Sabres’ season. They will play their next five games on the road.Article continues below ...After hearing boos when they dropped their season opener 4-0 to the Boston Bruins on Oct. 4, they have defeated the New York Rangers 3-1 on Saturday and the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Monday.Jack Eichel, 21, the Sabres’ newly appointed captain, scored twice Monday to give Buffalo (2-1-0) more wins than losses for the first time since the third game of the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. It had been 457 games, dating to Jan. 24, 2013, since Buffalo had more wins than losses.“The things you can control are your compete, your attitude and your work,” Eichel said. “If we do that and stick together and compete for each other, I think there’s a lot of good things that can happen. … I like the direction in which our group is going right now.”The Avalanche (2-1-0) lost 5-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday in their first road game of the season. Colorado will try to come out with more jump from the start at Buffalo.“I don’t want to take anything away from Columbus Womens Derek Dorsett Jersey , because they had a good first period,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “But we stood around. We weren’t ready to start. So, when you stand around, it’s pretty easy to move the puck around you. It’s also the reason why we had three penalties in five, six minutes of the first period. When you’re not moving your legs, and not skating, teams are going to move it around and you’re going to take penalties. That’s what happened.”Philipp Grubauer made his first start in goal for Colorado, with Semyon Varlamov, who had started the two wins, backing up. Varlamov is likely to start Thursday.After falling behind 2-0 in the first period Tuesday, the Avalanche tied the game before the Blue Jackets regained control with three third-period goals, including one into an empty net.“Second period was great,” said Grubauer, who allowed four goals on 34 shots. “First one and third one, that’s where we ran into some trouble. You play the right way in the second (but) you have to play the right way for 60 minutes, not one period.”The Avalanche must be prepared to play a Sabres team that is willing to work with Eichel leading the way.“He’s made a commitment to do it every day, not just when we’re under the bright lights,” Sabres right winger Kyle Okposo said of Eichel. “He’s done a really good job in practice of setting the tone and setting the pace. He’s the best player on our team and if he’s the hardest worker every day, the team is going to follow him.”“It’s really, really early but we’ve put in the work throughout the summer and in training camp,” Sabres right winger Jason Pominville said. “It’s a different vibe, a different atmosphere. It’s definitely nice to be able to get the start that we have had for sure.”Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian (lower-body injury) skated with the team Wednesday for the first time since he was injured Sept. 25 and will need more practice time before he returns to the lineup.Centers Vladimir Sobotka (upper body), who was injured in the season opener, and Johan Larsson (lower body), who has not played this season, have returned to practice but coach Phil Housley said their status has not been determined for Thursday.Avalanche defenseman Patrik Nemeth (upper body) will return to the lineup Thursday and center Vladislav Kamenev will probably make his season debut. Nemeth was injured in the season opener Oct. 4 against the Minnesota Wild.Kamenev was recalled by the Avalanche Sunday after playing two games with the Colorado Eagles of the American Hockey League. Kamenev has five games of NHL experience, three with the Avalanche last season after being acquired in a trade with the Nashville Predators Nov. 5. He missed 50 games in 2017-18 with a broken arm.“It is a good time to give him an opportunity,” Bednar said. “He’s played a couple games over the weekend, he’s been up and practiced for a few days and is energized and ready to go.”