The Nashville Predators are heading back to the Stanley Cup playoffs!
When the game started, Roman Josi drew an interference penalty early, as Adam Lowry cross-checked him right in front of the Jets’ goal, and the Preds got a chance on the power play. While they weren’t able to score on that, despite some good effort, a few moments later Kiefer Sherwood pounced on a turnover and set Tommy Novak up for the first goal of the game at 4:05.
Unfortunately, the Jets tied it up at 6:51 on the power play after a Michael McCarron penalty, as Gabriel Vilardi made a fantastic shot to get the Jets on the board. That was their first shot on goal of the game; their second, a minute and a half later, was after a Nashville turnover, when a Mark Scheifele shot went off the post and in.
Now down 2-1, the Preds got another chance on the power play as Neal Pionk headed off for high-sticking. Nashville had some good chances, with Filip Forsberg in particular making some great shots, but again the Jets killed it off successfully. A defensive breakdown let Dylan DeMelo make it 3-1 Jets at 12:46.
Several minutes of back-and-forth play followed, with the Jets getting quite a few shots on Saros but some of them at least not from the slot itself, and the Preds countering on occasion. A Nashville flurry in front of Connor Hellebuyck late in the period forced Hellebuyck to make a rapid series of saves and led to hostilities breaking out in the blue ice after the whistle. No penalties were assessed, and play resumed.
With 44 seconds left in the period, Evangelista drew a penalty and got his team another power play. Ryan O’Reilly almost scored a buzzer-beater, but Hellebuyck held the lead for his team, and once intermission ended, the Preds weren’t able to score then either.
Evangelista had a few more great looks during the first half of the second period, but Hellebuyck was up to the task every time. Forsberg drew another penalty halfway through the period as he powered to the net, and the Preds brought the firepower, but Hellebuyck held out against the barrage and kept the Jets’ lead to two.
Nashville continued to attack as Pionk was released from the penalty box, but still couldn’t get through. A pair of questionable calls late in the period–a missed call against Kyle Connor, immediately followed by an iffy interference call against Mark Jankowski–gave the Jets another power-play opportunity. The Preds were able to kill it off, and went back on the attack again, but even another ferocious Evangelista effort wasn’t enough.
The third period started off with a fight between McCarron and Logan Stanley, where McCarron got a dramatic takedown. This was followed by another questionable penalty against Jankowski. Juuse Saros had to make a massive save on Connor early on in the Jets’ power play, and the Preds killed the penalty off, finishing with a strong shorthanded possession. Seconds after Jankowski was released from the box, Roman Josi set Spencer Stastney up, and Stastney got the Preds within one at 7:34.
The crowd erupted in a spontaneous standing ovation during the TV timeout after Stastney’s goal, and two minutes later Ryan O’Reilly put a beautifully-placed shot past Hellebuyck to tie the game 3-3. The Jets pushed back after this, finally halting the relentless Nashville onslaught.
With just a few minutes left in the period, the Preds started pressing the attack again. Cole Smith almost gave the Preds the lead, but Hellebuyck had the save. The teams traded chances late, but the game headed to overtime, with the crowd roaring its enthusiasm as the brief intermission took place.
It didn’t come as much of a surprise when, after some chances for both teams, Connor finally scored for the Jets, but the Preds fought their way to the one point they needed tonight.