Predators defeat Wild in shootout, extend NHL points lead

NASHVILLE --The Nashville Predators extended their NHL points lead with a 2-1 shootout win against the Minnesota Wild at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.
Kyle Turris scored the only goal in the shootout, and Pekka Rinne stopped two shots to give Nashville 109 points, three more than the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Roman Josi scored, and Rinne made 22 saves for the Predators (49-16-11), who ended a three-game losing streak.
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Predators highlights]
"I think it was our best game for a while now," Josi said. "I thought we played really well defensively. They didn't have too many chances, and obviously [Rinne] whenever they had a chance was there for us. I thought it was a complete effort from us. It's good to be back on the winning ways."
Eric Staal scored his 40th goal of the season, and Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves for the Wild (42-24-10), who are in third place in the Central Division, three points ahead of the St. Louis Blues.
"The effort, I thought, was great," Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said. "To come back against that team in this building, especially after the first, you take [five] penalties … in the second, I thought it showed a lot. It was a great point."
The Wild challenged an apparent game-winning goal by Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis 40 seconds into overtime for offside and were successful.

"It was a great play by [Ellis]," Josi said. "Too bad it didn't count. I kind of saw it. I was right on the line on the bench, and I saw it. I figured it might be offside but great job of still getting it done after."
Staal tied the game 1-1 at 16:45 of the third period. Mikael Granlund made a saucer pass that led Staal, and he beat Rinne on the backhand.

Josi gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 2:51 of the first period on a one-timer off a face-off win by Turris. Josi's shot got through traffic and beat Dubnyk for his 12th goal.
"Any time you play your own division, a lot of times it really is a four-point game," Rinne said. "There's always big swings when you play in your own division, and we've been doing a really good job. I think our coaching staff does a great job also of preparing us and making sure that we understand that it's a division game or even a Western Conference game."
The Predators are one away from tying their record for most points in a season (110 points in 2006-07).

"We've played some good hockey this year, but some of the games that we were winning before we lost three in a row, I don't really think it was great," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "So it was a good step in the right direction to getting back to the way we need to play as we approach the playoffs."
Wild forward Jordan Greenway made his NHL debut. He had one blocked shot in 10:01.
"You see that he's going to be a good player," Boudreau said. "Positionally, he was fine. He's got a tremendous reach. This is a tough game for No. 1 for a young man's career, but I thought he handled it well."

Goal of the game

Josi's goal at 2:51 of the first period.

Save of the game

Rinne's save on Mikko Koivu 1:53 into overtime.

Highlight of the game

Dubnyk's save on Viktor Arvidsson 4:05 into the third period.

They said it

"It was tough, and I didn't think it would be able to get done. [Rinne] looked like he was right on top of his game. Just to persevere and get that goal, and unfortunately you lose in the shootout. But at this stage of the game, you'd love to have two, but one point is a big point." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau
"I think the last couple games we gave all of the teams we played too much time in front of our net. It's so hard for the goaltender to save two or three shots and then the rebound, so we made sure we defended our net better. I thought we did a better job." -- Predators defenseman Roman Josi

Need to know

Staal has 21 points (14 goals, seven assists) in his past 18 games. He is the second player in NHL history to have at least eight seasons between 40-goal seasons (2008-09, 2017-18). The other was Gordie Howe (1956-57, 1968-69). … Predators defenseman Alexei Emelin returned after missing two games with an upper-body injury. He had two hits in 13:06. … This was Rinne's first win against the Wild this season. He had been 0-3-0.

What's next

Wild: Host the Dallas Stars on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Predators:Host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-TN, NHL.TV)