NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Working overtime is becoming commonplace in Nashville.
Filip Forsberg scored on a penalty shot at 1:19 of overtime to give the Predators a wild 4-3 comeback victory over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
After trailing by three goals entering the third period, Nashville rallied for three goals in the span of 6:42 to tie it and force overtime.
In overtime, a Kyle Turris pass sent Forsberg in on a breakaway, and he was tripped from behind by Jaden Schwartz in front of the St. Louis goal and he was awarded a penalty shot.
On his attempt, Forsberg skated to the left side before cutting toward the slot, where he snapped a wrist shot past Blues goaltender Carter Hutton on the glove side just inside the post to win it.
Hutton, a former Predator, made 29 saves. He doesn’t think this loss will stick with him.
Austin Watson scored twice and Calle Jarnkrok also scored for Nashville.
Alexander Steen scored a goal and added an assist and Jay Bouwmeester and Schwartz also scored for the Blues who have lost two in a row. Vladimir Tarasenko had a pair of assists.
Nashville played its first home game after coming off of a four-game road trip where all four games extended into overtime.
“You’ve got to give the players a ton of credit because in those situations, especially coming off that long road trip and travel that we had, it’d be easy just to fold on the game and look forward to tomorrow,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “They didn’t. They fought for it.”
On a delayed penalty to the Predators, Bouwmeester carried the puck across the Nashville blue line and fired a slap shot from above the left faceoff circle low to the stick side of Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne.
Rinne finished with 28 saves.
Steen made it 2-0 at 3:10 of the second.
Tarasenko carried the puck in on the right side on a 3-on-2. He fed Paul Stastny in the slot, where his backhand attempt was knocked down by Rinne, but Steen skated through the slot and buried the rebound.
Schwartz tallied on the power play at the 9-minute mark of the second, converting a rebound of a Steen shot attempt.
Hutton spent three seasons as Rinne’s backup in Nashville before signing with the Blues in the summer of 2016.
He was sharp early, turning away all 13 Nashville shots in the first.
Following a sleepy second where Nashville only managed three shots on the St. Louis goal, Jarnkrok got Nashville on the board at 12:06 of the third, collecting the rebound of Swedish countryman Mattias Ekholm’s shot from the right point and beating Hutton.
“Obviously, they had a push, we knew they would,” St. Louis coach Mike Yeo said. “We talked about it between the second and third, making sure that we dictated in terms of pace and direction. I felt that we just absorbed a little bit too much there.”
Watson’s shorthanded goal at 14:33 of the third drew Nashville to within a goal and he tied it 1:15 later finishing off a 2-on-1 with Craig Smith.
“I don’t think there’s a recipe for that other than just continuing to work and not getting discouraged,” Watson said. “We were frustrated by the effort that we put out for the first two periods, but this group never backs off and never just gives up. We kept pushing, were able to get a couple to go for us and tie up, and Fil had a great penalty shot in overtime.”
NOTES: New Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel attended the game. … Nashville was 0-3 on the power play in the game. They have not scored on the man-advantage in their last five games. … Tarasenko played his 400th career NHL game. … The Blues are 18-0-2 when leading after the first period this season.
UP NEXT:
Predators: Host Calgary Thursday.
Photo credit – Sanford Myers / Associated Press / Nashville, TN
