NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The same problems that plagued the Detroit Red Wings 24 hours earlier resurfaced Saturday night.

They got off to a slow start, they struggled on the power play -- failing to score during a two-minute five-on-three advantage -- and they couldn’t put the puck in the net.

Pekka Rinne made 35 saves to lead the Nashville Predators to a 3-0 victory over Detroit at Bridgestone Arena.

The Red Wings, who entered the game as the NHL’s second-highest scoring team, have been shut out in consecutive games. The last time that happened was Dec. 20-23 of last season, when they lost a pair of 3-0 games to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Unlike Friday’s 3-0 loss at home to Columbus, the Red Wings felt they played much better in this game. They outshot the Predators 17-6 in the third period but couldn’t solve Rinne, who recorded his 18th career shutout, his third against Detroit.

"I thought we competed hard enough tonight, we just weren’t good enough or didn’t have the zip that they did," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "Anytime you get behind, you’re going to be in trouble, especially against a goalie like that."

Nashville won the special teams battle, getting two goals from Sergei Kostitsyn, including a shorthanded tally, and a power-play goal from Shea Weber.

Joey MacDonald, making his third start of the season for Detroit, made several key saves to give his club a chance to win, but like Jimmy Howard the night before, he fell victim to a lack of support.

"We had some clear-cut chances. But we’re not putting the puck in the net," Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "We’re behind again and chasing and shooting the puck a lot more. It’s something we want to do earlier in the game, get more shots to put pressure on their goalie and create chances that way."

Nashville snapped a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) and cut Detroit’s lead in the Central Division to five points.

Trailing 1-0, the Red Wings couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to tie it when Kostitsyn and Patric Hornqvist received minor penalties on the same sequence of play 44 seconds into the second period.

But, other than Henrik Zetterberg’s shot from the slot that Rinne stopped, the Red Wings didn’t apply much pressure.

"We really pushed them at the start of the second and set ourselves up real good there," Babcock said. "You got two full minutes and we lost every battle at the start. First (power play) group never really got it in their zone and the second group, we didn’t get an opportunity until there was 48 seconds left.

"Any way you look at it, that has to be automatic."

Detroit entered the game ranked fifth in the NHL on the power play.

"Little bit lack of confidence right now," Detroit’s Johan Franzen said. "We’ve been missing some opportunities lately. You have to score on a five-on-three, that’s basically it. We got the chances, the rebounds are laying right there, but they get a stick on it or their goalie is making a huge save."

On the Red Wings’ next power play, Kostitsyn fought off a check from Jakub Kindl and with one hand on his stick lifted a shot past MacDonald at 14:03 to make it 2-0.

Kostitsyn capped the scoring with 2:21 to play in the third period.

"I think we played a little better today," Zetterberg said. "We had our chances. Our offense, we can’t do anything right now. We had a lot of shots but we can’t get the puck in."

Said Predators coach Barry Trotz: "(The Red Wings) give you so much net presence and they can make plays. After they do that, they're like wolverines in the blue paint -- bumping the goalie, hacking at loose pucks, all out. It's hard to control some of those pucks. I thought we did a really great job in doing that.''

Nashville controlled the puck in the offensive zone for much of the first period opened the scoring when Weber blasted a shot from the faceoff circle past MacDonald on the short side at 3:18.

The Red Wings lost forward Jan Mursak for the night when he got hit in the toe by a shot from Weber in the first period.

"Often on the road on back-to-back nights it’s going to be a battle until you get your legs," Babcock said. "I thought we got through that. I thought we were in a position to be fine. But the (failed five-on-three) power play sucked the life out of us."

The Red Wings rattled two shots off the goal post late in the period — Darren Helm during a shorthanded breakaway and Zetterberg in the final minute.

"If those pucks go in it’s a different game," MacDonald said.

Instead, it was more of the same.