SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (AP) _ Greg Classen, Rob Valicevic and Ryan Tobler scored second-period goals to give the Nashville Predators a 5-3 victory Saturday night over the Atlanta Thrashers in the preseason opener for both teams.

Nashville trailed 2-1 after a period, but Classen's power-play goal 4:02 in the second tied the game.

Ville Peltonen found Valicevic alone in front of goalie Damian Rhodes less than six minutes later to give Nashville a 3-2 lead.

Valicevic also scored a short-handed goal in the third.

Tolber scored at 17:28 to give Nashville a 4-2 lead. The Predators outshot Atlanta 22-2 in the second and 37-25 for the game.

Andrei Skopintsev and Brad Tapper scored for Atlanta and Patrick Stefan had two assists.