(My Sportsbook) - When the Nashville Predators dealt Mike Dunham to the New York Rangers back in mid-December, the team put their faith in 26-year-old netminder Tomas Vokoun, who has more than answered the challenge.

"Tomas has played really well since that trade and really stepped up his performance for the last couple of months," Predators defenseman Bill Houlder said. "This was a nice stat for him tonight, to get that shutout. I certainly don't think he was lacking confidence, but this should make him even more confident."

On Thursday, Vokoun stopped 36 shots en route to his seventh career shutout in a 2-0 win over the New York Islanders. The shutout also marked the first of the season for the Predators, who entered the contest as the only team not to hold a team scoreless this year.

"It's a nice bonus for a goalie to get a shutout," Vokoun said. "But it was even more important to bounce back from the L.A. game and prove we wouldn't have a letdown like the last couple of years."

Vladimir Orszagh and Andreas Johansson each scored against their former team as the Predators won for just the second time in their last six games (2-3-1).

Just 2:46 into the game, Orszagh scored his 11th goal of the season on the power play. Karlis Skrastins fired a shot from the blue line, which made its way toward the net, where Denis Arkhipov tipped it to Garth Snow's right. Orszagh then skated to the loose puck and tipped it past Snow.

"It's always a good feeling when you score a goal against your former team," Orszagh said. "It's nice to show them that I can play at this level. I could have had a couple more goals, but you have to be satisfied."

Johansson tallied the game's only other goal at 8:33 of the first period. Jason York blasted a shot from the right point and after Snow made the initial save with his pad, Johansson jammed the puck over the goal line.

It was his 20th goal of the season, and he reached the mark in just 51 games, quicker than any Predator in the franchise's history.

"That's a good number to get because it's not that easy to score in this league," Johansson said. "But I'm far from satisfied. I want some more."

WHAT'S AHEAD

The Preds continue their six-game road trip in Anaheim on Saturday. The stand will close with visits from Boston and Calgary.