*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
Games aren't over until they're over. Ryan O'Reilly had a goal and two assists, Roman Josi scored the game winning goal, and the Nashville Predators rallied to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights with a 5-4 overtime victory on Tuesday in Nashville.
The Predators picked up their 6th straight win in the process and extended their current point streak to 18 games. This streak is the longest in the NHL this season and 16 of the 18 games ended in wins for the Predators. Their last regulation loss was on February 15.
Josi said of the team's point streak that "There’s a lot of confidence in this room. Like I said before, there’s a lot of trust in our game. We trust ourselves that we can play a really good game. We’re not going to have it every night but I think we showed, especially in the last couple of games, there’s times where we maybe didn’t have it as much but we found a way to get it back. That was the same thing tonight. I think that’s the sign of a really good team."
Ivan Barbashev got the Golden Knights on the board first, giving them a 1-0 lead 2:45 into the game, his 16th goal of the season. Brett Howden doubled the lead to 2-0 a few minutes later with assists from William Karlsson and Anthony Mantha. Shea Theodore made it 3-0 Golden Knights after one period on his 5th goal of the season.
Mark Jankowski scored 14:33 into the second period, getting the Predators on the board and making it a 3-1 game on his 5th goal of the season. With 57 seconds left in the period, Karlsson padded the Vegas lead to 4-1. O'Reilly scored 5:52 into the 3rd period for the Predators, cutting the deficit to 4-2 on his 25th goal of the season.
At the 12:17 mark of the 3rd period, Filip Forsberg made it a one goal game on his 40th goal of the season, assisted by Jankowski and Jason Zucker. Gustav Nyquist forced overtime when he tied the game 4-4 with a power play goal. Josi ended the game just 40 seconds into overtime with assists from O'Reilly and Forsberg.
Forsberg said of the team's comeback that "We’ve built a reputation on our third periods here lately. Most of them have been kind of pulling away when we have the lead going in or tying it up or whatever, going quick. This one was a little tougher of a challenge going into it, but the boys answered the bell."
Getting the start in goal for the Predators was Juuse Saros, who picked up the win as his record improved to 32-21-4 in 57 starts. Saros stopped 31 of the 35 shots he was tested with by the Golden Knights, good for a .886 save percentage.
It was Jiri Patera starting for the Golden Knights on the other end of the ice, getting the OT loss to fall to 1-3-1 on the season. Patera turned aside 30 out of the 35 shots on goal that the Predators sent his way, giving him a .857 save percentage.
Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy said of the loss that "You’re going to have those nights. But we’ve been building in the right direction. We’ve been a lot closer to our game, and I thought we did a lot things well. I actually thought in the third, I think they scored on all of their chances, to be honest with you. I mean, they had more in the first period I believe than the third. They just happened to find a way to get the goals to go in."
Both teams get back in action on Thursday night. Saros is expected to start for the Predators as they look to extend their point streak to 19 games. The Golden Knights travel to take on the Winnipeg Jets, with Logan Thompson likely to draw the start.
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