As Roman Josi gathered the puck in the Nashville zone early in the first period against the Winnipeg Jets, he had three options in front of him.

One was to pass the puck left to Luke Evangelista, who was just starting to build momentum out of the zone.

Another was to skate the puck up the ice himself. He's done that many times in his 13-year career, and he's one of the best skating defensemen in the league.

The third option? A stretch pass to Gustav Nyquist up the right wing. This would advance the puck up the ice quicker than the other two options, putting more pressure on the Winnipeg defense.

In previous years, Josi might have gone with the first two options. But on Wednesday night, he went with the third option.

It led to a goal by Nyquist, who streaked in untouched on Jets' goalie Connor Hellbuyck. That gave the Predators (38-25-4) a 1-0 lead on the Jets (41-19-5) and a 4-2 victory at Canada Life Centre. Nashville has won 11 of its last 13 games.

And that decision by Roman Josi to push the puck up the ice to Nyquist? That's all Andrew Brunette.

Andrew Brunette's offensive philosophy is paying off

From his first day as coach, Brunette has emphasized speed and pace in the Predators' offensive attack. Though part of that is bringing in players who play with speed, a much larger part is the decisions the attacking players make with the puck.

Making passes up the ice to start the attack, especially to players who already have speed going toward the zone, puts the defense on their heels. It's not a written-in-concrete rule − sometimes the better option is to skate the puck into the zone − but the puck will always move faster than any player can skate.

Last season, Josi probably chooses to skate the puck up the ice. While that's not a bad option − there's a reason he's one of the best offensive defensemen in the game − it may not always be the best option. Opposing defenses start to catch on to seeing the same player making the same play every game.

MONEY SAVER: How the Philadelphia Flyers could save the Nashville Predators nearly $3 million

The Predators have seen their goals per game increase to 3.18 from last season's 2.72. They've been nearly one half goal better on offense compared to last season.

Brunette's offensive philosophy has helped make that happen.

While it has taken a while to see the full impact of his strategy, we are finally seeing players like Josi start to execute the plan.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: One play from Predators' win shows Andrew Brunette's impact as coach