Adam Vingan

USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee

EDMONTON, Alberta — In the NHL, "any team can beat any other team on any given night" might as well be a league slogan.

With respect to the parity that the league trumpets, there are instances where one team should probably beat another, like the Predators on Saturday against the Western Conference-worst and banged-up Oilers. That's exactly what they did, impressively executing a prototypical road game plan in a 4-1 victory.

"We all know what kind of position we're in," said Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who scored twice for the first multi-goal game of his career. "That's what's got to get better — our battle level, our urgency and our attitude to win games. That's the position we're in right now. We need the points. It doesn't have to be pretty all the time. This was a greasy win for us."

Nashville has won consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 19-21 and just the third time since Nov. 1, closing within two points of Minnesota for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

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As Ekholm said, Saturday's victory wasn't one that'll dominate any highlight reels, though Ekholm's second goal might just for the peculiar nature of how it was scored, clipping an Oilers defenseman up high and disappearing for a few moments before reappearing behind goaltender Cam Talbot. But not every win needs to be pretty, and the Predators were able to secure it by hard-nosed play from every line.

"It was a really good road win for us," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "Big goal to answer their goal early in the first period. ... I thought our guys just played hard. We played smart, played hard and were able to chip in some timely goals."

Understanding the small sample size, the Predators' past two games have been encouraging. They trailed the Jets (whom they also defeated 4-1) and Oilers, but didn't allow those deficits to snowball. After battling back to eventually claim leads, the Predators padded them, aided by goaltender Pekka Rinne (23 saves) rediscovering his top-end form after a disheartening stretch of subpar performances.

The Predators have been in this position before, though. It's been three months since they've won three consecutive games. Extending this emerging run is key.

"Just playing a similar way," forward Mike Fisher said when asked how the Predators can accomplish that. "Solid road games, just smart with the puck and competing. We're going into Vancouver (on Tuesday). There's no reason why we can't beat them and keep rolling."

Reach Adam Vingan on Twitter @AdamVingan.

NEXT GAME

PREDATORS at CANUCKS

When: 9 p.m. Tuesday

TV/radio: Fox TN/102.5 FM