Flames hold off Predators, end Rinne's point streak

NASHVILLE -- Pekka Rinne lost in regulation for the first time since Jan. 2 when the Calgary Flames defeated the Nashville Predators 4-3 at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Rinne, who made 27 saves, was 10-0-1 in his past 11 starts.
Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, and David Rittich made 29 saves for the Flames (30-20-8), who are 5-2-0 in their past seven games and are in third place in the Pacific Division with 68 points, two behind the San Jose Sharks for second.
WATCH: [All Flames vs. Predators highlights]
"That's a big win for us," Tkachuk said. "I can't speak enough about the whole team and the effort we put in tonight to get the win, especially late to hold off their push late."
The Flames finished 4-2-0 on their six-game road trip.
Ryan Johansen had a goal and an assist for the Predators (34-13-9), who had their seven-game point streak ended (5-0-2).
Nashville is in first place in the Central Division with 77 points, two ahead of the Winnipeg Jets.
"We're not working hard enough," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "I mean I don't know what else to say. If you don't invest a lot, you won't like it at the end. The stretches that aren't going our way or the stretches that we're getting outplayed, it's because we're missing some bite in our game."

Mark Jankowski gave the Flames a 3-2 lead at 3:24 of the third period on a tic-tac-toe play. Sam Bennett entered the zone and fed Tkachuk, who slid a pass to Jankowski on the crease.
Curtis Lazar made it 4-2 at 10:14 on a wrist shot that deflected off defenseman Roman Josi's stick on the rush.
Nick Bonino scored for the Predators to make it 4-3 at 12:19. He redirected a feed from Pontus Aberg after Rittich turned it over on a bad pass.
Johansen gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 13:45 of the first period on a rebound.
"I think we've played a lot of hockey lately and we've played in a lot of tough games and have been finding ways to win a lot of hockey games," Johansen said. "I think [Friday], we're going to stay away from the rink and just have a good day of rest. I think that'll be pretty crucial for our group right now in just hitting the reset button."

Tkachuk scored for the Flames to tie the game 1-1 with 43.4 seconds remaining in the first period on the power play. He gathered the loose puck after Mark Giordano's shot from the point hit Sean Monahan in front, and beat Rinne on the left post with a backhand.
"Maybe a lot of guys were tired tonight," Tkachuk said. "It's the end of a road trip. The road trip was really hard and grueling, and for us to all grind it out tonight and grind through it, every single guy played great tonight."
Yannick Weber gave the Predators a 2-1 lead at 9:30 of the second period on a rebound. Viktor Arvidsson hit the post on a breakaway, and Weber shot the loose puck into an open net.
Dougie Hamilton scored for the Flames to tie it 2-2 at 14:28 on a 5-on-3.
"I thought we were good tonight," Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. "I thought even though they had the leads, I thought we were dictating more of the play. We had more of the chances. That's the way we saw it anyway. I don't know if there was any turning point other than we just stuck with it."

Goal of the game

Hamilton's goal at 14:28 of the second period.

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Save of the game

Rittich's save on Kevin Fiala with 11 seconds remaining in the third period.

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Highlight of the game

Jankowski's goal at 3:24 of the third period.

They said it

"I think our guys did a great job. Our meetings today were basically looking at these two games against Boston and this one, against, we feel, two top teams in the National Hockey League. We looked at it as we played 35 minutes in Boston against a really good team, and that's not enough. So we talked about playing 60 minutes. It's a little cliché-ish, but the big battle cry in there today was who can do it the hardest, the longest? I thought our guys did that tonight." -- Flames coach Glen Gulutzan
"Why are we coming back in games, though? You can't come back every night. We should focus on the part that's putting us in the hole where we have to fight back. And again, for me, we've got to dig in a little more." -- Predators coach Peter Laviolette

Need to know

Monahan finished with two assists and has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past eight games. … Predators forward Kyle Turris missed the game because of an illness. … Johnny Gaudreau, who had an assist on Hamilton's goal, has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) during an eight-game point streak.

What's next

Flames: Host the Florida Panthers on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CITY, SNW, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Predators: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, FS-D, NHL.TV)