Filip Forsberg scores twice, Predators win in OT

BUFFALO --Filip Forsberg scored his second goal of the game with 2:15 left in overtime to give the Nashville Predators a 5-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.
Forsberg gathered a loose puck, skated into the Buffalo zone and beat goalie Robin Lehner for his 26th goal of the season, 10th during a five-game goal streak.

"I mean, he's the best player in the League right now the way he's playing," Predators defenseman P.K. Subban said. "He's just got to continue, whatever he's doing, I don't know what it is, just continue doing it."
WATCH: All Predators vs. Sabres highlights
The Predators (32-22-9) have won a season-high four straight games. The Sabres (26-26-11) have lost four in a row.
Forsberg, who has 10 goals and four assists during a six-game point streak, helped the Predators rally from down two goals with less than 10 minutes remaining.
After defenseman Jake McCabe gave Buffalo a 4-2 lead 56 seconds into the third, Forsberg set up Ryan Johansen's 10th goal at 11:16 to make it 4-3, and then tied it 4-4 with 2:23 left when he skated into the Sabres zone after a pass from Viktor Arvidsson and beat Lehner.

"[Forsberg's] been outstanding; he's really confident right now," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "There's nobody else that you'd want the puck on their stick in the closing minutes of the third period to get it to overtime. And then in overtime, that's the guy who has to have it on his stick. Right now, he looks really confident to me."
The Sabres took a 2-0 lead in the first period when Brian Gionta and Kyle Okposo scored 1:34 apart. Gionta scored his 13th goal at 15:52, and Okposo scored with a backhand after a pass by McCabe at 17:26.
Predators forward Mike Fisher made it 2-1 with 1:11 left in the first when he shot into an empty net after Lehner skated out and missed blocking the puck after Austin Watson chipped a pass ahead to Fisher.

"The goal was big to give us a breath," Laviolette said. "I didn't like the first period but we're winning games and guys are competing hard and we're getting it done. We're finding a way to get it done but we need that right now at this point in the season."
Predators forward Colin Wilson made it 2-2 with a power-play goal 2:09 into the second period. Evander Kane scored his 22nd goal to give Buffalo a 3-2 lead at 5:35.
Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne made 28 saves. Lehner had 36 after he missed the game Sunday against the Arizona Coyotes with an upper-body injury.

Goal of the game

Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian shot wide, but Gionta batted the puck out of the air from behind the net, and it deflected off Rinne and over the goal line.

Save of the game

Rinne closed up his five-hole quickly to deny Okposo at 4:43 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Josi blocked a shot, and Forsberg skated along the right side and beat Lehner on a 2-on-1 break.

Unsung performance of the game

Josi had a Predators-high six shots on goal, two hits and two blocked shots in a season-high 30:55.

They said it

"I think we have the ability to turn it on and I think we've got some players that are game-breakers, and it's showing right now. Guys [are] stepping up. But just everything, little things, from blocking shots on the PK. I mean, we got a point and we could've easily said, 'Hey, we came back, we got a point.' But we wanted two and we got them."-- Predators defenseman P.K. Subban
"Obviously it's a little rare what's going on right now, but it's fun. Obviously our line is playing really well and [Johansen] and [Arvidsson] are working really hard. Yeah, I mean, [Arvidsson] on the first goal, he made a hell of a play on the blue line, and yeah, I just tried to finish it off. All credit to him." -- Predators forward Filip Forsberg
"Tonight was just more of us not continuing to do what made us successful. We just need to move our feet. We had so many good shifts in the offensive zone in the first period, and then after that it just seemed to kind of die. We were just one-and-done or none-and-done. We just kind of sat back and let them have at it. If you give a good team that much time and that much space they're going to make you pay." -- Sabres forward Kyle Okposo
"It's being fragile. It's being a young team trying to find our way. When we've got those leads we can't sit back." -- Sabres forward Brian Gionta

Need to know

The Predators have won five of the past six games and have points in six straight (5-0-1). … The Sabres blew two two-goal leads and also blew a 2-0 lead in a 3-2 loss to the Coyotes on Sunday. ... The Predators have scored 46 goals in the past 11 games (7-3-1).

What's next

Predators: At the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN, RDS, FS-TN, NHL.TV)
Sabres: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)