NHL: Minnesota 5, Nashville 3

NASHVILLE, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The Minnesota Wild scored five consecutive goals Saturday en route to a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators.

Andrew Brunette had a goal and an assist in the Wild's fifth consecutive victory.

Andrew Ebbett, Antti Miettinen, James Sheppard and Eric Belanger all scored for the Wild. Josh Harding made 26 saves in goal.

Dan Ellis gave up four goals on 28 shots in two periods of goaltending for Nashville. Pekka Rinne played the third period and allowed one goal on 11 shots.

Martin Erat, Jason Arnott and Marcel Goc scored for the Predators, who have dropped three of four.

Erat scored on a power play in the first period to give the Predators a 1-0 lead. The advantage vanished near the end of the period when Ebbett and Sheppard scored 1:32 apart to put Minnesota ahead 2-1.

The Wild took over and extended their lead to 5-1 on a power-play goal by Belanger at 3:27 of the third period.

Nashville rallied for a pair of goals in the third period by Arnott at 9:05 and Goc in the closing seconds.