The Predators looked to build off of a matinee win on Saturday with another win against a much tougher Central Division foe tonight.
The Avs had the initial territorial advantage. At an early break, the Preds aired their Ryan Johansen tribute video, leaving Johansen visibly moved on the Colorado bench. As the period wore on, Nashville got their skates under them and began to press the attack.
Late in the period, the Preds got a power play of their own, but the Avs almost immediately struck shorthanded to put themselves on the board with a goal from Andrew Cogliano. Tyson Barrie then took a penalty, putting the teams 4v4; Colton Sissons and Spencer Stastney helped lead a great flurry in front of Alexandar Georgiev, but Georgiev was up to the task. Before the Avs could get to their abbreviated power play, Ryan O’Reilly drew a slashing penalty.
The back-and-forth shuffle in and out of the box seemed to be wrapping up with a Predators power play, but seconds into the one O’Reilly had drawn, Roman Josi took a hooking penalty. The Preds managed to kill that off, and the teams finally returned to five a side with under a minute remaining in the period–briefly, as a delayed penalty was called on the Avs during a strong Preds sequence in front of Georgiev.
Filip Forsberg scored on the delayed penalty with under eighteen seconds left in the first, tying the game at one. A scuffle broke out as the buzzer sounded, over a Yakov Trenin hit Cogliano wanted a penalty on, but no further penalties were assessed heading into intermission.
Jeremy Lauzon gave the Preds the lead at 3:55, converting a Gustav Nyquist pass to make it 2-1. The Avs pushed back, and eventually–after hemming the Preds into their own zone for an extended shift–tied it with a goal from Devon Toews.
Juuso Pärssinen drew a power play moments later with a determined play, sending Jack Johnson off to the box and giving the Preds a chance to redeem themselves with the skater advantage. The Avs were able to kill it off, but at least didn’t score shorthanded again, and the teams returned to five a side–briefly. Cole Smith then took a penalty, and the Avs scored on the ensuing power play, as Valeri Nichushkin capitalized on some setup by Cale Makar and Nate MacKinnon.
The Preds’ attempt to push back was thwarted when Liam Foudy took a penalty. Nyquist had a good shorthanded chance, but Georgiev was again up to the task. The Preds got the penalty killed off to end the period, with some hard work from the penalty killers and some good saves from Juuse Saros.
Saros had to make more saves as the third period began. While the Avs had the advantage early in the period, Nashville began to push back as it went on, with a few good chances from Forsberg’s line. Forsberg eventually drew a penalty, getting Mikko Rantanen off the ice for tripping, and the Preds got another power play trailing by one with under seven minutes remaining.
The Avs were again able to kill the penalty, but they weren’t able to defend against the late six-on-five. Relentless pressure from the Preds with Saros pulled finally led to another Forsberg goal, as Sissons made a smart play to trap the rebound. With the game tied 3-3, it would have been easy for the Preds to sit back and let it go to overtime, but with just 21 seconds left in the game Trenin slammed a bounce from below the goal line past Georgiev to make it 4-3 Preds.
Colorado took its timeout, but even starting off the faceoff with six skaters wasn’t enough to let them score again. The Preds completed their last-minute comeback win in style and to celebration.