NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When you’re missing a sizable chunk of your offense due to injuries, Pekka Rinne is not the goaltender you want to be facing.

The undermanned Detroit Red Wings battled hard Saturday night and got good goaltending from Jimmy Howard. But Jonathon Blum scored a power-play goal to snap a tie in the third period, and the Nashville Predators went on to defeat Detroit 3-1 at Bridgestone Arena.

The Red Wings were forced to dress 11 forwards and 17 skaters, one less than a full complement. Johan Franzen, who leads the team with 27 goals, was scratched before the game due to an undisclosed injury. Pavel Datsyuk (lower-body injury) and Jiri Hudler (flu) stayed home.

“I thought it was a great game,’’ Howard said. “It was a lot of fun out there, the crowd was into it. That was a playoff game. Well-reffed, they just let us battle out there. It just came down to special teams and they got one late on us. We had our chances, too.’’

Blum scored the winning goal at 8:12 of the third period, with Henrik Zetterberg off for tripping. A shot by Patric Hornqvist was blocked by Jonathan Ericsson. Blum came in from the point and knocked in the rebound

The Red Wings had a few excellent chances to tie it on a power play in the final four minutes but couldn’t beat Rinne, who made 39 saves, including 20 in the third period. Nashville won its fourth consecutive game against Detroit and snapped the Red Wings’ four-game winning streak.

David Legwand’s empty-net goal with 29 seconds to play sealed the win.

“We battled hard throughout the whole game,’’ Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. “They got the winning goal on their power play and we had our chance late on the power play. We had some great chances at the side of the net but couldn’t score. I thought that was the difference in the game.’’

The 6-foot-5 Rinne has allowed only two goals in his last three games vs. Detroit.

“He made a couple of good (saves) late, we hit a couple of posts,’’ Mike Modano said. “It’s not like we didn’t have the looks we wanted. He’s a big guy, covers a lot of the net, you really have to get him out of that net to have any opportunities on those second and third chances.’’

The Predators set a physical tone early. Shane O’Brien hit Justin Abdelkader in the head. Legwand shoved Lidstrom into the boards. Shea Weber took exception to a check from Patrick Eaves and took a run at him behind the Nashville net, resulting in a penalty.

Eaves, early in the second period, took a blast from Weber off his left ankle during a Nashville power play. He returned later in the period, finished the game and said he’s fine.

“Just bruised, doesn’t feel good,’’ Eaves said. “He can really hum the puck. I think he got all of that one.’’

The Red Wings led 1-0 after the first period on Danny Cleary’s power-play goal with 22 seconds remaining. Cleary, parked at the side of the net, banged in a pass from Zetterberg. It was Cleary’s 23rd goal, his first in nine games.

On the previous power play, a minute earlier, the Red Wings had an apparent goal by Niklas Kronwall waved off with 1:38 to play, when referee Stephen Walkom ruled that Tomas Holmstrom made incidental contact with Rinne in the crease.

“Obviously, I didn’t like that call,’’ Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “He made that call and I disagree with it, but there’s nothing we can do about that now. Obviously, that’s disappointing, but those are calls in the game.’’

Said Lidstrom: “The ref said he was in the paint. It sure didn’t look like it when you looked at the big screen.’’

The Predators tied it at 1-1 on Blake Geoffrion’s goal at 8:42 of the second period. Geoffrion dished the puck to Hornqvist entering the zone and then went to the net and converted a pass from Hornqvist.

The Predators are 4-1 this season against the Red Wings. The teams meet one more time, April 2 in Nashville.

“I’m not going to spend a bunch of time worrying about that,’’ Babcock said. “Sometimes in the regular season when you play against a team who ends up having your number — we got other team’s numbers and then not have the success you want at playoff time. They’re trying to get in the playoffs, we’re trying to get ready for the playoffs. In the end we’ll see how we all do.’’