O'Reilly scores hat trick, leads Predators past Flames

CALGARY -- Ryan O'Reilly had a hat trick to help the Nashville Predators to a 4-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.

Fedor Svechkov had a goal and an assist, and Filip Forsberg had two assists for the Predators (13-20-7), who have won two in a row, including a 3-0 victory at the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, after a three-game losing streak. Justus Annunen made 31 saves.

"We know we've got to put a run together and we need every point we can get," O'Reilly said. "Tonight, two huge ones. And to go back to back against two teams that play hard... it wasn't easy by any means but that's what we have to do. We have to find ways to win games if we want to climb back into this hunt."

Mikael Backlund scored, and Dustin Wolf made 24 saves for the Flames (18-14-7), who have lost three of four.

"We played a great first period," Backlund said. "We came out ready to go and really dominated the game. Just couldn't find a way to score a goal. In the second, special teams let us down. We had some looks on the power play but didn't capitalize, and on the PK we struggled. That's where the game went the wrong way for us."

O'Reilly put Nashville up 1-0 with a power-play goal at 4:21 of the second period. Svechkov's centering pass popped to O'Reilly at the edge of the crease, and O'Reilly chipped a backhand by Wolf's blocker.

He pushed it to 2-0 at 11:37 with another power-play goal after Andrei Kuzmenko was penalized for playing with a broken stick. Wolf made the initial save on a slap shot from Forsberg from the point, but Jonathan Marchessault passed the rebound into the slot to O'Reilly, who shot it into the net.

"It feels good," O'Reilly said. "The first one, 'Fil' makes a great play at the blue, holds onto it and 'Svech' comes in and just taps it. I'm just going to the net. Nothing fancy, just try to snap it at the net and lucky for me it went in. Second one, too. Guys make a good play. Just hanging out in the right spot and it comes out to me and I bang it home. It's nothing too fancy, but it's the bounces that we needed."

Backlund cut the lead to 2-1 at 18:22 with a slap shot from just inside the right face-off circle that beat Annunen's glove.

Matt Coronato hit the post on a wrist shot from the high slot 35 seconds after Backlund's goal.

"I think if we continued the way we were in the first we could've done a better job, but it's all part of the learning," Coronato said. "Just try to keep getting better and be a more consistent team."

Svechkov made it 3-1 at 9:19 of the third period when he tucked a backhand around Wolf's left pad after a scrambled draw in Calgary's end.

"I just saw the (Alexander) Ovechkin goal this morning," Svechkov said. "It's kind of the same type of play. Honestly. I just felt like I've got to jump right away on this face-off and I got rewarded."

O'Reilly scored into an empty net with 1:27 remaining for the 4-1 final.

"I feel like the guys are alive after the game," Svechkov said. "It's nice to have a win. That's why we play every game, that feeling after the game."

NOTES: O'Reilly, who had a game-high six shots on goal, has six hat tricks in his NHL career. ... Svechkov, a rookie, has three goals in 11 games with the Predators and five goals in 13 games with Milwaukee of the American Hockey League this season. ... Nashville forwards Marchessault and Steven Stamkos each pushed individual identical point streaks to three games (one goal, two assists).