*Photo from the St. Joseph News-Press*
They needed this win badly. For their sake, they got it. Matt Duchene scored, Alexandre Carrier scored the game winning goal, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Edmonton Oilers with a 4-3 OT victory on Monday night in Nashville.
Entering the Monday home game in the midst of a 6 game losing streak, the Predators got back to .500 with the streak snapping win, sitting at a 13-13-4 record and 6th place in the Central Division. Cody Glass had a two point game, the only Nashville skater to do so.
Nashville head coach John Hynes said that "We deserved to win the game. We did it. I think that's the most important thing when you come out of tough stretches, is that sometimes you're building your game and not getting results. When you do wind up getting results, it's important because, it's not like you hung on and found a way to win. We came out and played a real solid game."
The scoring started with the Predators. Mattias Ekholm scored his second goal of the season 4:35 into the game, giving the Predators a 1-0 lead with Thomas Novak getting the assist. At the 8:42 mark of the period, Jesse Puljujarvi scored his second goal of the season, getting the Oilers on the board and tying it 1-1 after one period.
Starting the scoring in the second period was Jordan Gross, who gave the Predators a 2-1 lead with assists from Ryan Johansen and Yakov Trenin. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers to tie the game 2-2, before Duchene put the Predators back in front with a power play goal, making it 3-2 with one period to go.
Early in the 3rd period, Nugent-Hopkins scored again for the Oilers, tying the game 3-3 just 1:51 into the final period, with the lone assist coming from Connor McDavid. It remained tied until overtime. There, Carrier scored his second goal of the season, giving the Predators a 4-3 win 2:12 into the extra frame, with Glass and Nino Niederreiter assisting.
Carrier said of his goal that "They chipped it in. I don't know why. I decided to stretch the ice, and Glass made a good heads-up play. They were going for a change, and we got a 2-on-1. Duchene was on his one-timer, so I kind of looked him off, shot it and it went in."
Getting the start in goal for the Predators was Juuse Saros, who got the win at home. Saros turned aside 30 of the 33 shots he faced from the Oilers, good for a .909 save percentage as his record was upped to 10-9-4.
Starting for the Oilers opposite Saros was Jack Campbell. He took the overtime loss, his record now sitting at 8-6-1 on the season. Campbell stopped 31 out of the 35 shots on goal the Predators sent his way, recording a .886 save percentage.
Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said of the loss that "I think it speaks to the character of our group, the leadership of our group that we believe even if you've given up a goal that you can get right back at things. The types of goals that we scored tonight were very good. We got contributions from a lot of people. We came into a tough building and got a point. We're ready to take that and move on."
Both teams get back in action with Wednesday night road matchups. The Predators take on the Chicago Blackhawks, with Saros expected to start. Stuart Skinner is lined up to start for the Oilers when they face the Dallas Stars.
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