Duchene, Kunin Lead Preds to Overtime Victory Over Avalanche

In arguably the most entertaining game of the season, the Predators found a way to prevail once more.
Luke Kunin and Matt Duchene each scored twice - with Duchene's second serving as the overtime winner - as Nashville defeated the Colorado Avalanche by a 5-4 final on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result extends Nashville's win streak to five games and keeps them atop the Central Division and the Western Conference with 50 points in the standings.
Tanner Jeannot also tallied on the night for his rookie-leading 12th of the season, and goaltender Juuse Saros finished with 40 saves once again to give his club their 24th victory on the campaign.

Jeannot didn't wait long - just 2:32 into the contest - to snap a shot from the slot past Colorado goaltender Darcy Kuemper and just barely over the goal line for a 1-0 lead. Then, with 56 seconds to play in the opening frame, Kunin gave Nashville a two-goal lead when he also scored from the slot for his first of the night.

In the second stanza, the Avalanche came back to tie the game with goals from Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Andre Burakovsky, but late in the frame once more, Nick Cousins found Kunin in front, and the winger directed his second of the evening into the twine for a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes.
The teams then traded punch for punch in the final frame, first with Nathan MacKinnon scoring on a power play to tie the game 3-3. Nashville then converted on a man advantage of their own when Duchene tallied his first of the night before Cale Makar completed an impressive individual effort to even things at 4-4 and force overtime.
After Nashville was unable to capitalize on one too-many-men call against the Avalanche to finish off regulation, Colorado was called for the same penalty once more in OT, and Duchene didn't miss the second time around for his third overtime winner of the season to set a Preds franchise record.

Saros became the third goaltender in franchise history to reach the 20-win mark in 30 appearances or fewer, joining Pekka Rinne in 2014-15 (27 GP) and Tomas Vokoun in 2005-06 (30 GP).
The Predators reached the 50-point mark in 37 games or fewer for the fourth time in franchise history, following 2005-06 (34 GP; 24-7-3, 51 points), 2006-07 (36 GP; 24-9-3, 51 points) and 2014-15 (36 GP; 24-9-3, 51 points).

Tuesday Storyline:

The calendar read Jan. 11, but Tuesday's back-and-forth affair between two of the best in the West had a bit of a postseason feel nevertheless.
Hours earlier, the Preds were billing the meeting with the Avs as a "measuring-stick game," a chance to see how they compared to a club many have picked as Stanley Cup favorites. The result was a highly entertaining night of hockey that went the home team's way, much to the delight of the 17,159 who saw one heck of a showing.
"The big takeaways out of this game for me, I really liked our mindset to be able to start the game and the preparation, the competitive mindset that we had coming into the game," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "We're in a situation where they were able to tie it three times in the game, and you talk about the mental toughness and the resiliency and staying with it and understanding that these games, there's going to be highs and lows, and I just liked our mindset. We just kept playing and doing the right things. These are tough games to be able to play in, and it's one of the things we've talked with our team about is as we continue to move forward is trying to play our best against the best and finding different ways to win and really test ourselves, test our competitiveness, our structure, our mindset against the team like Colorado. And tonight we found a way to win."

"It was a fun game," Preds Captain Roman Josi said. "It was exciting, it was fast. I thought we played really well in the first... They made a push in the second; it's such a good team over there - obviously one of the top teams in the League - and we knew they were going to have a push and they kept tying it up, but I think we stuck with it and got the win. So, it was a big game for us, for sure. And obviously with the win, it's awesome."
Colorado never had the lead on Tuesday night, but they had come back to win in each of their last five games, and at times it looked like they might be on their way to a sixth. But Nashville showed their resilience as a team that doesn't seem to be bothered by much, and they proved that once more before the night was done.
"We're finding ways to win different games of all different types," Duchene said. "I mean, you play a game against Arizona [on Saturday], that's a very different game than tonight, and you win both games and you take care of business. I think just our ability to stay even keel no matter what the game, no matter what other teams throw at us, whether we're down 3-0 in Washington or whether we're up tonight 2-0 and they come back and tie it, we're just level the whole time."
Duchene played a notable role in that regard against his former club by scoring Nashville's final two goals of the night - both on the power play - just one more example of No. 95's outstanding season to date.
"He's been unbelievable for us this year," Josi said of Duchene. "Just the way he's playing every time he's out there, he's creating chances, he's giving us opportunities to score, he's passing, he's making great plays and he's scoring himself... You can see it out there and I think you can see it in his play. Like I said, every time he's out there it's dangerous for the other team and you saw tonight, I mean, he scored two clutch goals for us, huge goals, and he's been doing it all year. He's winning it for us, and it's been awesome."
Not to be outdone, Kunin's effort was also one of his best of the campaign, and the scrappy and skilled winger has been finding his scoring touch, good news for the Preds.
"It was a big measuring stick for both teams... A lot of momentum swings both ways," Kunin said. "Just happy with how our group stuck with it and didn't get too high or too low. We just kept coming back and everyone did their job. It was a great effort."

One of the more impressive attributes of this Nashville team over the past three-plus months has been their ability to stick together and find a way no matter what. They've now been victorious on 24 occasions, and although no one on the outside saw this coming, those on the inside can't say they're all too surprised at this juncture.
"I think for a lot of us, we've gone through a lot of adversity," Duchene said. "There's a lot of guys that were in the same boat as me and people questioning us... When you kind of hit rock bottom or you hit adversity, it's about how you bounce back and it's what you do next that's important. We were never going to let this team get disbanded and let this team go to waste in terms of the talent we had. We have too much character, too much leadership, too much care in that room. There's too many guys that, you know, give a damn, I guess."

Highlight of the Night:

They Said It:

Roman Josi on Tuesday's game having a playoff-like feel to it:
"Yeah, it did honestly. I think it was definitely one of the most exciting games this year. I mean, even the crowd was awesome out there, it was loud. It was back and forth, it was fast, it was physical, I think it had a little bit of everything. It definitely was a bit of a playoff atmosphere and to get the win, it was definitely emotional with the crowd being so loud, so it was a lot of fun."

Notes:

Prior to Tuesday's game, the Preds placed forward Yakov Trenin on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list and activated defenseman Dante Fabbro to the active roster. Nashville also recalled forward Cole Smith from Milwaukee and forward Matt Luff from the taxi squad.
Trenin, along with forward Filip Forsberg, were on the protocol list on Tuesday night. Defensemen Philippe Myers and Ben Harpur were scratched for Nashville.
The Predators will conclude their two-game homestand on Thursday night when they welcome the Buffalo Sabres to Bridgestone Arena.