Steve Sullivan injured as Predators come back to beat Columbus 3-2

When the Blue Jackets come to town, it's always a special occasion whether pre-season or not. The action is furious, gloves are usually dropped, and the game, more often than not, goes down to the wire.

Tonight, the major drama had to do with Steve Sullivan, however, as he skated off the ice just under 13 minutes into the game, not to return...

UPDATE: Video highlights added after the jump.

Interestingly, just yesterday Sully alluded to a sore groin (very typical during this time of year) on Twitter:

Obviously, as word spread that Sullivan would not return to the game (lower body issue), concern grew among Predators fans. Fortunately, however, @PredsRadio (manned by radio play-by-play man Tom Callahan) tweeted later that "Sully is ok!" so apparently the decision to keep him out was precautionary.

As far as the game, Nashville enjoyed a tremendous shooting advantage (40-16 in total) but couldn't put enough pucks past the Columbus goaltenders early on. The Blue Jackets took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd period on goals by Andy Murray and Antoine Vermette, while Ryan Jones answered for the Preds late in the period.

It wasn't until 16:01 of the 3rd that Nashville tied it up, as J.P. Dumont fed Jason Arnott for a snap shot that beat Dan Lacosta in the Columbus net.

With just 90 seconds left in regulation, Derek Dorsett took a hooking penalty, which set up a power play goal by Shea Weber which proved to be the difference.

Having played three games in three nights, the Preds have a break in pre-season action until Wednesday night in Atlanta.