Two nights, four points.
Jonathan Marchessault scored the game-winner in overtime as the Nashville Predators came back to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets by a 4-3 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena.
The result gives the Preds their third straight victory, and just like last night’s triumph in Chicago, the group came from behind to ultimately collect two wins in 24 hours with “resilience” as the name of the game on Saturday.
“I think [our] resiliency,” Marchessault said as to what impressed him about Nashville’s effort. “I think that's something that I remember last year playing against [the Preds]. That's one thing they had, and that's maybe a little something we were lacking in the first few games, and right now it's back. There's no quit in our game. I think it's a mentality that you want to have all year. We battled back all game, and we were the team on the back-to-back, so good for us.”
“I thought it was a resilient effort,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “It's tough when you're back-to-back. We got in late last night - not to make excuses - but the boys had to dig in down two pucks again, and we still stayed with it. So, you're proud of the group, because we could have went two ways, and we decided to go the hard way.”
Filip Forsberg, Cole Smith and Alexandre Carrier also tallied in Saturday’s win, and goaltender Scott Wedgewood made 25 saves - a number of them rather impressive - to earn his first victory as a member of the Preds.
“He battled, especially down the stretch where we’re not that comfortable giving up that many opportunities,” Brunette said of Wedgewood. “But he was there, and he made huge saves, made one in overtime, and I think all night he was solid… We're trying to get that consistency in our game. It just seems to have the ebbs and flows at times, and when the breakdowns happen, they're big breaks. So, he was there to back us up tonight.”
After neither team found the back of the net in the game’s opening 20 minutes, Columbus took a 2-0 lead less than seven minutes into the second stanza with goals from Kirill Marchenko and Zach Aston-Reese.
But then, just as he did last night against the Blackhawks, Forsberg got the Preds going when he took a drop pass from Ryan O’Reilly and sniped a wicked wrister past Daniil Tarasov to bring the home team within one.
Smith and the Predators only needed 26 seconds of play in the final frame to tie the game as he one-timed a Michael McCarron feed over the goal line.
After Columbus took the lead back less than three minutes later, the Preds again answered 62 seconds after that as Carrier’s point shot found its way through traffic and into the twine for a 3-3 score. Preds forward Zach L’Heureux picked up an assist on the goal for his first point in the NHL.
“It was huge just to get that win,” L’Heureux said. “Coming from behind, back-to-back games, it's not what you want, but at the same time, it just shows the character in this room. I thought everybody stepped up in that third period, and we found a way.”
“He's been unbelievable,” Smith said of L’Heureux. “He's been great. He's a very hard, physical, straight-line player. He brings a lot of energy, and I think that fits us very well. We need a guy that we know where he's going to be, and he's come in and played a couple great games. We couldn't ask any more from him.”
The score remained even for the rest of regulation, and after Wedgewood made one more save to start the overtime session, Marchessault spun away from a defender and deked his way to the front of the net where he neatly deposited the puck past Tarasov to send the Nashville crowd into a frenzy.
“I'm happy for him,” Brunette said of Marchessault. “Obviously it's a big adjustment, and he's been working and hasn't been coming easy for him. To get that goal for us, I thought he played a really good game on pucks, and lots of chances to make plays, so it was good that he got one.”
One week ago, the Predators were sitting winless through five games to open the season. One week later, they’ve done nothing but win. Nashville knows victories in three straight won’t solve everything, but six points in the standings have gone a long way to reverse the feeling around the club.
Now, they want nothing more than to keep this feeling going, and they’ll get another chance Monday night in Tampa.
“We came into the weekend, three games in four nights, those are tough games, especially on the road, with traveling and all that,” Carrier said. “It feels good to be back on the winning streak, but it’s early. It's only three [wins]. So, we’ve just got to keep building, keep trusting our system and trusting each other, and then we'll keep it going.”
“Tonight…we had to dig deeper,” Brunette said. “I think we're realizing that hurt-so-good sort of thing. It’s going to be hard, but the joy isn't in the hurt, the joy is in the work, and I thought we had joy at the end of the night tonight.”
Notes:
Defenseman Dante Fabbro re-entered the Nashville lineup on Saturday night in favor of blueliner Marc Del Gaizo. Forwards Juuso Parssinen and Philip Tomasino were also scratched for Nashville.
The Preds shifted their forward lines on Saturday with Brunette moving Marchessault up with Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly, a different look as opposed to having Gustav Nyquist on the wing with Nashville’s top trio. Nyquist skated with Steven Stamkos and Tommy Novak, while Colton Sissons centered Mark Jankowski and Luke Evangelista.
Nashville has now won nine straight home games against the Blue Jackets dating back to Feb. 22, 2020. The longest such streak in franchise history against a single opponent is also against the Blue Jackets, which was a 17-game stretch from Nov. 18, 2006 to April 8, 2011.
The Predators will now head to the Sunshine State as Steven Stamkos returns to Tampa on Monday night to face the Lightning.
