Predators rally past Golden Knights in OT, push point streak to 18

NASHVILLE -- Roman Josi scored 40 seconds into overtime, and the Nashville Predators rallied to extend their point streak to 18 games, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.

Josi cut to the net past Chandler Stephenson and beat Jiri Patera with a forehand to the blocker side.

“I thought I had a bit of a gap to the forward who was covering me,” said Josi, Nashville's captain. “It felt like I had a step on him. I just felt like I could take it to the net, so I just took it to the net and I think it bounced off my stick once and I got it back.”

The Predators, who tied it with three consecutive goals in the third period, are 16-0-2 during their team-record point streak, which is the longest in the NHL this season.

“There’s a lot of belief,” Josi said. “There’s a lot of confidence in this room. Like I said before, there’s a lot of trust in our game. We trust ourselves that we can play a really good game. We’re not going to have it every night but I think we showed, especially in the last couple of games, there’s times where we maybe didn’t have it as much but we found a way to get it back. That was the same thing tonight. I think that’s the sign of a really good team.”

Filip Forsberg and Ryan O'Reilly each had a goal and two assists, Gustav Nyquist and Mark Jankowski each had a goal and an assist, and Juuse Saros made 31 saves for Nashville (43-25-4), which extended its lead over Vegas to four points for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

William Karlsson had a goal and an assist, Anthony Mantha had two assists, and Patera made 30 saves for Vegas (42-25-5), which had won three in a row and was coming off an 2-1 overtime victory at the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “You’re going to have those nights. But we’ve been building in the right direction. We’ve been a lot closer to our game, and I thought we did a lot things well. I actually thought in the third, I think they scored on all of their chances, to be honest with you. I mean, they had more in the first period I believe than the third. They just happened to find a way to get the goals to go in.”

O’Reilly cut the lead to 4-2 at 5:52 of the third period, scoring from the slot off a pass from Nyquist.

Forsberg made it 4-3 at 12:17 when he poked the puck in after Patera stopped Jason Zucker’s backhand from in close. The Golden Knights unsuccessfully challenged the play for offside, resulting in a power play for the Predators.

Nyquist then tied it 4-4 at 12:57 on the ensuing man-advantage. He took a pass from O’Reilly and scored with a wrist shot from the left circle through a screened Patera.

“We’ve built a reputation on our third periods here lately,” Forsberg said. “Most of them have been kind of pulling away when we have the lead going in or tying it up or whatever, going quick. This one was a little tougher of a challenge going into it, but the boys answered the bell.”

Ivan Barbashev gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 2:45 of the first period, scoring on the rush off a cross-ice pass from Jack Eichel.

“That’s what it felt like, like a playoff game,” Barbashev said. “A lot of physicality out there, a lot of chances. The goalies were really good today, too. They got to feed off their fans probably tonight after scoring a couple of goals in the third. It’s just how it went.”

Brett Howden pushed it to 2-0 at 5:08 on a shot from the slot. Mantha attempted a centering pass from behind the net, and the puck bounced to the slot to Howden.

Shea Theodore extended the lead to 3-0 at 16:43 on a wrist shot from the high slot.

Jankowski pulled the Predators to within 3-1 at 14:33 of the second period on a wrist shot from the right circle.

Karlsson gave the Golden Knights a 4-1 lead at 19:03 when he scored off Noah Hanifin’s pass on a 2-on-1.

NOTES: Barbashev’s goal ended the Predators’ shutout streak at 156:58. They were coming off consecutive shutout wins. It was also his 100th NHL goal (505 games). … Patera played his first game for Vegas since Jan. 10 after being recalled from Henderson of the American Hockey League on Monday. … Golden Knights forward William Carrier did not play because of an upper-body injury and is day to day. … Forsberg reached 40 goals for the second time in 12 NHL seasons. He scored 42 in 2021-22. … Predators defenseman Alexandre Carrier missed the game because of an upper-body injury.