The Preds got out to a much stronger start tonight than they had on Saturday, and despite some stress near the end were able to finish with a win.
A first period spent firmly on the attack got them out to a 2-0 lead, as Steven Stamkos and Filip Forsberg set each other up for a pair of goals.
Justin Barron made it 3-0 Preds early in the third, and Nashville got another opportunity when Pavel Dorofeyev took a penalty right after that. The Golden Knights were able to kill that off, but not to fully regroup after, and Stamkos scored his second of the night to stretch the Preds’ lead to four.
Things started to go wrong after that, as Dorofeyev got the Knights on the board just 31 seconds later, then added a second on the power play when Vinnie Hinostroza was called for high-sticking. The Preds escaped a Stamkos penalty to finish the period off.
Vegas hit back hard in the third period, with Justus Annunen having to make a few big saves for Nashville as the Preds struggled to get set up. With 4:30 remaining in the period, Dorofeyev completed his hat trick and cut the Preds’ lead to one.
Roman Josi rang iron with the Knights’ net empty, but Ryan O’Reilly — after a miss of his own — managed to get a buzzer-beater in to finish the game off and reward Annunen for some extremely clutch 5v6 saves.