CHICAGO -- Roman Josi and Nashvilles dangerous defencemen did it all against the Chicago Blackhawks. Wholesale Authentic NBA Jerseys . That is why Pekka Rinne believes the blue-liners are the biggest key for a strong finish to the Predators disappointing season. Josi had three assists, and Ryan Ellis scored in the third period to lead the Predators to a 3-2 victory over the Blackhawks on Friday night. "If we win or lose, usually its the D-men," said Rinne, who made with 31 saves. "The talent we have on the back end, were pretty fortunate to have that kind of depth in the defence." Shea Weber also had his team-best 27th assist as Nashvilles defencemen combined for five points in the Predators third consecutive win. Weber also leads the team with 43 points, and Josi jumped into a tie with Patric Hornqvist for second on the team with 21 assists. "Thats the strength really of our group, our D-men," coach Barry Trotz said. "Theyre all young and talented. Were the youngest team in the league by three years on the blue line. The future is really bright for us there. Now weve got to work on trying to get those elite forwards like the Blackhawks have." It was the second straight loss for Chicago, which is struggling to keep up with the top contenders in the rugged Western Conference. The reigning Stanley Cup champions dropped to 10-8-7 in 2014. Jonathan Toews and Peter Regin scored for the Blackhawks, and Corey Crawford made 26 saves in his 200th NHL game. "Were putting ourself in tough situations by not starting well and getting away from our team game," Toews said. "Not much of an explanation, but we know we need better right now. We need to get out of this trend were in right now." Mike Fisher and Hornqvist also scored for Nashville, which has won two of three against Chicago this season. Ellis fourth goal of the season came right after the Predators killed a holding penalty on the defenceman that carried over into the third. He jumped out of the box, got a long pass from Josi and beat Crawford on a breakaway to make it 3-1 just 45 seconds into the period. "I was just fortunate enough to time it right," Ellis said. "Josi made a great play with a blocked shot then a tape-to-tape pass through the zone." Regins tip-in got the Blackhawks within one again at 11:28, but they were unable to tie it. Regins second goal with Chicago came after Toews sent a wide-open opportunity off the left post 4:40 into the third. Toews also had an open tip go wide with 36 seconds left. "We knew they were going to make a push," Josi said. "With that team theyve got a lot of skill, but Peks was great again." Chicago controlled the action at the start, but Nashville began to pressure Crawford midway through the first. Nick Spaling shot wide right on a prime opportunity with about 7 1/2 minutes left. Fisher put the Predators in front when he pushed a rebound over Crawfords left leg for his 17th goal at 15:33. Nashville used a big slap shot by Weber to open a 2-0 lead with 69 seconds left in the first. Crawford stopped the drive by the big defenceman, but Hornqvist swept in the rebound for his 13th. Crawford hopped up and slammed his stick down as the Predators celebrated Hornqvists first goal since March 4. "Tough to watch the last part of the first period," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought that was as bad as weve probably played for any stretch all year." The two-goal deficit seemed to wake up the Blackhawks for a bit. Toews stole the puck from Josi and passed it to Kris Versteeg, who passed it back to the captain for his 26th goal with 14 seconds remaining. Chicago carried the momentum into the second, but Rinne was there each time. He used his left pad to deny Patrick Sharp on a 1-on-1 opportunity, and he got some help from teammates when the Blackhawks had the puck in front during a power play at the end of the period. Crawford also used his glove to grab Craig Smiths shot with 5:46 left in the second. NOTES: Blackhawks F Marian Hossa (upper body) participated in the morning skate and is hoping to return Sunday at home against Detroit or Tuesday at Philadelphia. He has missed five games. ... Predators F Viktor Stalberg received a warm ovation when he was shown on the video board in the first period for helping Chicago win the Stanley Cup last season. NFL Jerseys For Sale . Brazilian striker Brandao opened the scoring with a header in the 55th minute before winger Franck Tabanou volleyed home from close range to double the lead in the 61st. Cheap NBA Jerseys China . A lawmaker is hoping the buzz from California Chromes run for the Triple Crown might build support for a bill that would place the U. http://www.wholesalechinajerseysforcheap.com/ . Therrien would not confirm his lineup for the game, but he did have the same line combinations practicing together for the third straight day which is usually a pretty good indication of what the lineup will be.Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Terry Roziers 16 points led a balanced Louisville attack as the sixth-ranked Cardinals cruised to a 78-63 victory over Virginia Tech in an ACC clash. Rozier went 4-of-6 from 3-point range, while Wayne Blackshear hit three shots from beyond the arc in a 15-point effort in the Cardinals final tune-up before Saturdays home showdown with No. 4 Duke. Montrezl Harrell and Mangok Mathiang each finished with 11 points and eight rebounds for Louisville (15-2, 3-1 ACC). Harrell added three blocks to anchor a Cardinal defense that held the Hokies to a 34.1 shooting percentage inside the arc. Louisville also received a career-best 11 assists from point guard Chris Jones. Were getting better, and I think it all stems from Chris Jones willingness to be a leader and to be a point guard, Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino remarked. I still want to see him take open shots because we need that at times, but he was totally into getting people good shots and running the team and doing great things defensively. Adam Smith ended 5-of-7 on 3-point attempts and scored 19 points for Virginia Tech (8-8, 0-3). Justin Bibbs and Ahmed Hill had 15 and 14, respectively, in the Hokies fourth consecutive defeat. Weve got to get a lot better, a lot tougher, play a lot harder, said Hokies head coach Buzz Williams. In all the ways (Louisville is) good, those are all the ways that we need to improve. The Cardinals experienced no hangover from Saturdays tough one-point loss at North Carolina, nor were they caught looking ahead to this weekends matchup with Duke. Louisville opened up a 17-2 lead through seven minutes of play and stayedd comfortably ahead the rest of the way while dominating on both ends of the floor. Wholesale Jerseys From China. Rozier put up eight points during Louisvilles early tear, during which the Cardinals made six straight baskets at one stretch and held the Hokies scoreless for six minutes. Virginia Tech cut its deficit to nine points on several occasions in the first half, but Louisville ended the period on a 10-0 spurt and owned a 43-24 advantage at the break after Blackshear beat the buzzer on a 3-point try. The Cardinals pulled away further in the second half. Blackshear and Rozier started the stanza with back-to-back treys to begin an 8-0 stretch, and the lead later reached 29 points when consecutive buckets from Harrell made the score 63-34 with 12:24 to play. Virginia Tech was able to close the gap somewhat during the latter stages, pulling within 76-60 with two minutes left behind a 12-2 run against mainly Louisville reserves. Their team was totally overmatched, and I think they worked really, really hard, and I just wanted to make sure that they werent embarrassed in any way possible because they worked so hard, said Pitino of the Hokies. It was good that we gave some guys an opportunity, with a big game coming up, to play. Game Notes The schools were facing one another for the first time since Jan. 26, 1995, when both were members of the now-defunct Metro Conference ... Louisville has now won 10 straight meetings in the series ... The Hokies dropped their 10th straight ACC road game and 19th of 20th overall in league play ... Louisville outscored Virginia Tech by a 34-18 margin in the paint. ' ' '