Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov had no chance against a bouncing puck rifle toward goal by the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov had no chance against a bouncing puck rifle toward goal by the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Filip Forsberg, Calle Jarnkrok, Roman Josi and Craig Smith scored to help the Nashville Predators beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game homestand.

Pekka Rinne made 18 saves in his NHL-best 35th win, and the Predators padded their lead atop the NHL standings with 89 points. Nashville also clinched the season series with its Central Division rival at 3-1 with a game remaining.

Nathan MacKinnon and John Mitchell scored for Colorado, which had won two in a row.

Semyon Varlamov started his 17th consecutive game, but the Avalanche goalie didn’t finish. He was replaced by Reto Berra after giving up four goals on 29 shots.

Colorado head coach Patrick Roy pulled Berra during a power play, and Eric Nystrom scored short-handed into an empty net at 8 minutes, 28 seconds of the third period to make it 5-1.

The Predators just went 1-1-1 on a road swing and required a shootout for that lone win at Buffalo on Sunday. A return to home ice was all they needed to pick up their play Tuesday, as they improved to a league-best 26-3-1 at home.

Colorado came in having won four of five, with the Avalanche offense scoring 19 goals in that span. MacKinnon, who had his first career hat trick Sunday in a win over Tampa Bay, scored at 3:57 on a slap shot for a 1-0 lead and his 100th career point.

Nashville answered right back 16 seconds later, as Jarnkrok got the puck off a faceoff and took off on a breakaway, beating Varlamov with a wrister for his sixth goal this season.

Not even Nashville playing a big chunk of the game without captain Shea Weber helped the Avalanche. Weber took exception to Gabriel Landeskog leveling Josi with a big hit and started a fight that featured several big punches. Weber wound up with an instigator penalty, a fighting major and a game misconduct.

Colorado managed a power-play goal when Mitchell scored from in front with 1:19 left.

Avalanche slide

Nashville is 26-6-2 when outshooting an opponent, tops in the NHL. … Calle Jarnkrok’s goal was his first in 19 games. … Craig Smith has seven points (five goals, two assists) in his last six games. … Nathan MacKinnon has at least a point in six of his last seven games (four goals, four assists). … Avalanche center Ryan O’Reilly has six points in his last six games, all on assists. … Semyon Varlamov tied Mario Gosselin for fourth on Colorado’s games played list at 190.