Forsberg scores twice in 3rd, Predators hold off Stars

DALLAS -- Filip Forsberg scored twice in the third period, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Dallas Stars 4-3 at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

“We’ve been sitting back a little too much in previous times this season going into the third on the road,” Forsberg said. “We took the pedal to the metal and just kind of went at them, and it worked out.” 

Gustav Nyquist extended his point streak to eight games (six goals, six assists) with a goal and an assist, and Ryan O'Reilly had two assists for the Predators (22-17-1), who have won three of four. Kevin Lankinen made 26 saves.

“I just felt good. I felt present,” Lankinen said. “I felt like I was able to enjoy the game and find pucks through traffic. It was a fun game.”

Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist, and Thomas Harley had two assists for the Stars (22-11-5), who have lost three straight games. Scott Wedgewood made 18 saves.

“We gave up 22 shots. I don’t think we made that many mistakes. That was a fairly clean game,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “That was one of those games where the mistakes we made ended up in the net. You’re not going to play mistake free. That’s just the way hockey goes.”

Forsberg gave Nashville a 3-2 lead at 2:42 of the third period when he stick-handled around a sprawling Wedgewood and scored with a backhand. He then scored on a wraparound to make it 4-2 at 7:30.

“That’s what 'Fil' does. Two goals in the third when we need it the most, and he steps up,” Nyquist said. “Two great goals. Overall, just a great effort. I think we stuck with it in the third team-wise. I really liked our third and that’s how you win in this league against a good team, and I thought we did a great job.”

Robertson cut the lead to 4-3 at 10:21 on a shot from the bottom of the right circle.

“We’re never worried about scoring goals in here. It’s about how we’re defending, just don’t want to give up four,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. “I think when you’re talking about defense, you’re usually talking about more mental [fatigue] than physical. I think being tired is an excuse. We’re professional athletes here. It’s about that mindset of stopping up pucks and trusting each other, where your job is and where your rotations are. Like I said, we don’t want to be giving up four. None of that is [Wedgewood’s] fault, he’s been phenomenal for us. It’s on our group collectively.”

Nyquist gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 11:26 of the first period on a shot from the slot after a turnover by Dallas forward Joe Pavelski in the defensive zone.

Luke Evangelista pushed it to 2-0 at 7:22 of the second period, beating Wedgewood short side with a wrist shot from the left circle on a 2-on-1 rush.

“I thought it was a hard hockey game. It had some momentum swings and we hung in there,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “I think for our group it was a good growing moment for us after going through some games where we lost momentum. We’re up 2-0 and we’re able to find our game a bit that we lost, so for me that’s a positive.”

Seguin cut the lead to 2-1 at 9:29 when Matt Duchene found him from behind the net for a snap shot in the slot.

Jamie Benn tied it 2-2 with 46 seconds left in the second period on a redirection in front of the net on the power play.

“On the first power play we only had a minute left, so we couldn’t really get anything going. We couldn’t break in,” Robertson said. “We just won the draw on the second one and Thomas [Harley] got one through as a lot of defensive players do, and we got a tip on it.”

NOTES: Dallas defenseman Ryan Suter played his 1,400th NHL game, becoming just the fifth American skater to reach that mark. … Forsberg reached the 20-goal mark for the eighth time in his NHL career, becoming the 11th Swedish-born player to do so.