Carolina got out to a good start, taking possession and heading into the Nashville zone, but Kevin Lankinen was able to handle the shots, and the Preds then found their way back into the offensive zone. They were the ones to open up the scoring at 5:20 when a shot from Juuso Pärssinen snuck over the goal line. It had to be checked by the officials, but was determined to be a goal, and got the Preds on the board.
Martin Nečas drew a penalty from Alex Carrier with a chance that pretty much forced Carrier to hook him in order to spare Lankinen the shot. Unfortunately, despite the Preds putting together most of a penalty kill, they weren’t able to finish the job, as Stefan Noesen tipped a Jack Drury bomb to tie the game at 10:23.
Nečas then drew another penalty, sending Yakov Trenin to the box. This time the Canes scored almost right away, with a point shot from Tony DeAngelo. Nashville tried to retaliate, but weren’t able to get much together. With right around two minutes left in the period, Pärssinen drew a penalty on Brent Burns, and Carolina touched up with 1:50 left. Their penalty kill was up to the task, keeping Nashville from doing much of anything with the skater advantage.
A few minutes into the second, Roman Josi tied the game 2-2 with a great play, powering the puck through the offensive zone and putting it past Antti Raanta on a wraparound. However, the Canes got the lead back just 62 seconds later, as Jalen Chatfield tipped another shot past Lankinen. Sebastian Aho added to the lead on the next shift, making it 4-2 Canes at 5:08 of the second.
Nashville responded well, pushing hard on the attack. Ryan McDonagh rang iron, and then the Preds got a chance on the power play as Seth Jarvis skated into Lankinen. Ryan O’Reilly brought them within one on the power play, but–again–on the next shift, Carrier tossed the puck out from behind the net and Nečas grabbed it, then put it past an unsuspecting Lankinen to make it 5-3 Canes.
This time it was the Preds’ turn to score on the next shift, as Tyson Barrie scored off the rush, making the third goal in 52 seconds. The Preds continued to attack, with Filip Forsberg getting another good chance, but Raanta had it handled.
With just over four minutes left in the second, the Preds got another chance on the power play as Jordan Staal headed to the sin bin. However, halfway through the power play, they put six instead of five skaters out, negating the rest of the power play and putting the teams 4v4 for the next 57 seconds. The Preds didn’t manage to score on the 4v4, but did kill the penalty.
Early in the third, Gustav Nyquist appeared to get injured, but remained on the bench checking in with the trainers. End-to-end play on the ice settled into a great few shifts from the Preds and some great saves from Raanta. McDonagh hit the post for the second time of the night. Around halfway through the period, just after a scuffle behind the play, Jeremy Lauzon finally managed to tie it 5-5.
Carolina counterattacked, getting several good looks both during sustained shifts and off the rush. The final couple of shifts of regulation featured frantic end-to-end play with both teams trying to win it before the extra frame, but neither was able to manage it.
For the second game in a row, Forsberg won it in overtime, pouncing on the puck early and then letting Josi set him up for the score.