Forsberg hat trick helps Predators top Blackhawks, keep pace in wild card

CHICAGO -- Filip Forsberg scored his 10th NHL hat trick, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-1 at United Center on Friday.

Forsberg reached 46 goals, passing Matt Duchene (43 in 2021-22) for the Nashville record for a season. Luke Evangelista had two assists, and Kevin Lankinen made 25 saves for the Predators (46-29-5), who remained three points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Vegas defeated the Minnesota Wild 7-2 on Friday and has a game in hand.

“I don’t know if the importance of it is that big, but it’s obviously awesome,” Forsberg said of the goals record. “The franchise has had a lot of great players, and to be mentioned to one of them is obviously something that’s cool. Hopefully I’m not done yet.”

Nashville clinched a playoff berth Tuesday.

“These are hard games to play,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “There could be a letdown. There could be a little bit of foot off the gas. I thought we just stayed true to our identity and played our style of game. There were moments maybe where we weren’t as sharp early. I thought in the third period we closed the door pretty good.”

Philipp Kurashev scored, and Arvid Soderblom made 35 saves for the Blackhawks (23-51-5), who have lost three in a row and four of five.

“Yeah, obviously not a great start,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “They’re a big, strong team again -- we’ve played a few of those lately. Just turnovers and mistakes in the [defensive] zone and our penalty-killing, which has been pretty good in the second half of the year especially, just weren’t sharp. We had times when before we took the penalty we couldn’t get it out of the [defensive] zone.

“It’s just a case of them wanting the puck more and they were more determined.”

Forsberg’s power-play goal gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 5:53 of the first period. He moved in from the right point to near the top of the right circle and sent a high shot past the stick of Soderblom with Evangelista providing a screen in front of the net.

Kiefer Sherwood extended it to 2-0 at 19:03, poking in his own rebound following Luke Schenn’s shot from the right point.

Forsberg’s unassisted goal at 5:22 of the second period gave Nashville a 3-0 lead. He chipped the puck into the offensive zone and followed it into the slot, then scored from in front after Chicago’s Kevin Korchinski and Kurashev couldn’t clear it.

“I think that was one of those that I guess you earn, with bounces not going your way, and you get one of those,” Forsberg said. “Obviously I tried to get it deep for [Michael McCarron] and [Sherwood] to work on. It pinballed between everyone back on my stick and it went in.”

Jason Zucker increased the lead to 4-0 on the power play at 9:39. He skated down the left side past Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy, cut to the net and lifted a backhand past Soderblom. Lankinen got an assist.

“It was pretty basic,” Lankinen said. “I just stopped the puck behind the net, and the boys took care of the rest. Yeah, fun one. I think that was the first one of the season, so I’ll take it.”

Lankinen began his career with the Blackhawks in 2020-21 and played two seasons in Chicago.

“Actually that was my first time playing at the United Center back with the Preds,” he said. “Yeah, it was special to me a little bit because a lot of great memories. Obviously I’ve been here before but haven’t got the start. So it was fun to stand for the anthem and kind of soak it all in. It’s always a special building, for sure.”

Kurashev cut it to 4-1 at 16:58 with the Blackhawks on a 5-on-3 power play. He took a pass from Connor Bedard in the right face-off circle and scored with a one-timer from the dot.

Forsberg completed the hat trick on the power play at 1:37 of the third period for the 5-1 final. He scored from the left side of the net after Ryan O'Reilly fed him with a pass through the crease.

NOTES: The Predators played without goalie Juuse Saros, defenseman Ryan McDonagh and forward Gustav Nyquist, who were scratched for roster-management reasons, according to Brunette. … Murphy had one shot in 19:05 of ice time after missing 35 games because of a groin injury. … Defenseman Ethan Del Mastro made his NHL debut for the Blackhawks after being recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Thursday. He played 18:35. “Obviously pretty surreal when you step on the ice for the warmups, and then hearing the crowd for the start of the game is pretty special,” he said. “Obviously not the result we wanted, but pretty awesome playing your first game.”