Goals came in droves on Tuesday night as the Nashville Predators won 7-6 in overtime against the New York Islanders.
Nashville rookie Fedor Svechkov scored his first career OT winner to break Nashville’s six-game losing skid. He now has two primary points in three overtime shifts this season.
“I saw the pass, took a couple of steps, shoot, and scored. That’s it,” Svechkov said.
The Predators scored two goals in the final 2:07 of regulation, with the game-tying goal coming with 39 seconds remaining in regulation from Michael Bunting.
It’s the 16th time the franchise has ever scored a game-tying goal in the last 40 seconds of regulation to force overtime, with just six contests coming out as wins in overtime.
“We scored two goals, I’m impressed. Guys did a good job and gave us a chance to end this game,” Svechkov said.
New York fended off a few quick shots from Nashville early in the first period, but at 4:16 in, it was Simon Holmstrom who put the Islanders ahead 1-0. D-man Ryan Pulock found Holmstrom for the tap-in goal for his 19th of the season.
Just 2:28 later, Nashville rushed down the ice with its top unit. Luke Evangelista fired a puck on net from the right wall, and Sorokin popped out a rebound right to Ryan O’Reilly, who scored his 300th career goal to even it up 1-1.
O’Reilly became the sixth player from the 2009 draft class to reach the milestone.
The offensive success didn’t waver on both sides as Nashville capitalized on Kyle MacLean blindly backhanding the puck from the corner right to Filip Forsberg. Nashville’s top winger fired a quick wrister to give Nashville a 2-1 lead.
Forsberg reached the 30-goal mark for the fifth time in his career, only former Nashville forward Viktor Arvidsson has more with two during his time with the organization.
“Tonight, we were able to play good and stay resilient,” Marchessault said. “At the end of the day it was good to find a way and come back. We took advantage of the five-on-three after we took advantage of the six-on-five and it was good for us, feels good.”
Then, Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech attempted to fire a shot on net following a faceoff win from Bo Horvat. The puck bounced off Andres Lee and trickled past Justus Annunen as New York tied it 2-2.
The second stanza was busy off the hop, and it was started by the Islanders as they tacked on their third goal of the night. It was Holmstrom who blasted a one-timer by Annunen’s blocker side after getting a backhanded pass from J.J. Pageau.
Then, Steven Stamkos blasted a one-timer from his office in the left circle to tie the contest back up at 3-3. Stamkos scored seven seconds into Nashville’s first powerplay of the night.
A few minutes later, Nashville killed off a tripping penalty committed by O’Reilly, but just a moment after, Islanders forward Maxim Tsyplakov roofed in a puck from in tight to give New York a 4-3 lead.
And to cap off a busy second period, Michael McCarron evened it up once again for Nashville making it a 4-4 game with 6:35 left in the frame.
The Islanders initially thought they had the final say on the scoresheet as Kyle Palmeri roofed home a backhanded shot to give the Islanders a 5-4 lead with 4:39 to play.
Then Scott Mayfield scored shorthanded as New York added a dagger, making it 6-4. O’Reilly was down behind the play for a brief second after getting a stick to the face. Nashville’s veterans were venting to the officiating crew after their final goal.
Nashville got back to work as Stamkos scored his second of the night on the powerplay with 2:07 to play in regulation to cut the deficit down to 6-5.
Then, Michael Bunting scored with 39 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Svechkov provided the final goal of the night as Nashville ended its six-game skid. The young Russian has taken three overtime shifts in his career, and on two of them he now has the primary point.
“I didn’t even see it, I was keeled over on the bench after a [long shift], I’ll have to watch the replay,” Stamkos said of Svechkov’s goal. “Great to see from him. He made a great play over to me in a different overtime game. In two games, he’s made plays when they matter most, so that’s what you like to see.”
Up Next
The Predators kick off a two-game road trip with the first stop coming on Thursday against the Utah Hockey Club. It’s Nashville’s first time to visit Utah at the Delta Center.
Pete Weber will be on the call alongside Hal Gill. It’ll be venue No. 71 where Weber has called an NHL game throughout his broadcasting career.
Nashville plays in its final road game of the season on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena versus the Vegas Golden Knights.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of Nashville Predators
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