Predators top Golden Knights in OT, gain in Western wild card

NASHVILLE --Cody Glass scored a power-play goal at 3:30 of overtime to give the Nashville Predators a 3-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.

Glass won it when his cross-crease pass deflected in off the skate of Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb.
"We'll take that," Glass said. "It was going to [Philip Tomasino] backdoor, and I think [McNabb] just deflected it. Sometimes when you try to be unselfish, good things happen. So, a good thing happened."

Tommy Novak had two goals and an assist, and Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves for the Predators (39-30-8), who were coming off a 5-1 loss at the Dallas Stars on Monday.
Nashville moved three points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Each team has five games remaining.
"We know we have to win a lot of hockey games to stay in it," Novak said. "We've done a pretty god job so far, so hopefully we can keep it going. We've kind of had that mindset for a while now."
Alex Pietrangelo scored two goals, and Jonathan Quick made 24 saves for the Golden Knights (48-22-8), who won their previous two games.
Vegas is in first place in the Pacific Division, three points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers and four ahead of the Los Angeles Kings. Edmonton defeated Los Angeles 3-1 on Monday.
"Not the outcome we wanted, but [we had] chances. Their goalie played awesome," Golden Knights forward Chandler Stephenson said. "He did what he's supposed to. We couldn't beat him for a while. A lot of saves that probably should have been goals, but he made good saves."

Novak gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 6:50 of the first period. He received a stretch pass from Luke Evangelista, skated in all alone, and lifted a backhand over the glove of Quick.
Novak then made it 2-0 at 13:08 with a power-play goal, roofing a shot past a sprawling Quick after a loose puck kicked out to him in the bottom of the left face-off circle.
"I think we came out a little bit better than they did, just our feet were moving a little better," Novak said. "It's tough on the back to backs. Both teams played last night (Vegas won 4-3 in a shootout at the Minnesota Wild), different cities. So, I think it just comes down to being ready. We were ready in the first. They had a really good push in the second. We kind of weathered it a bit in the second and third and got the win."

Pietrangelo cut it to 2-1 at 6:00 of the second period. Lankinen stopped Pietrangelo's initial shot from the top of the left circle, but the rebound deflected in off the back of defenseman Kevin Gravel.
Pietrangelo scored again to tie it 2-2 at 13:39. He took a backhand pass from Jonathan Marchessault and skated into the right circle before beating Lankinen blocker side.
"He's in the right spots," Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. "His timing was good to receive pucks. I think when you're joining the rush as a defenseman, the key is getting the puck at the right time so you can get your head up, an opportunity to make a play to the net. I liked his timing a lot."
NOTES:Stephenson had an assist in 15:17 of ice time after missing the game against the Wild on Monday because of an illness. … Vegas forward Jack Eichel had an assist to extend his point streak to seven games (one goal, nine assists) … Novak has 41 points (17 goals, 24 assists) in 46 games this season since being recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Dec. 19.