In Nashville, Nikita Kucherov scored midway through extra time to give the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning a 3-2 win over the Predators.
The win snapped a listless 0-2-1 run for the Bolts.
“The past couple games, we’ve been playing maybe 40 hard [minutes] and spurts of really good hockey,” Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli said. “I think today we battled for a full 60 minutes. We had a good answer there after they got that first one. [Ondrej Palat] comes back and answers big for us. I think overall we’re pretty happy with how we played right now, and getting the two points is the most important.”
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves for the win.
Kyle Turris made the extra session necessary when he scored in the third period to bring the two teams back to even. Calle Jarnkrok also scored for the Predators.
“I felt like I played the exact same game I would’ve played if I didn’t sit seven straight games,” Turris said. “I’m playing hockey and I’m playing my game, and that’s all I’m going to do.”
Victor Hedman and Ondrej Palat scored for the Lightning in regulation.
“We needed to find a way to win this game or at least get some points out of it,” Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “It’s good we got it to overtime, but we really wanted two points tonight, and it showed in the way we played. Maybe not as great of a start just because we spent a lot of time in our zone, but I thought we defended really well tonight. And when it counted, we got the job done. That’s what’s most important.”
[WATCH:Â All Lightning vs. Predators highlights]
Pekka Rinne made 28 saves in the loss.
“Just stayed positive,” Turris said. “I learned a lot from last year (when he was a healthy scratch). I mean I’m not going to second-guess myself anymore. I’m done with that and confident in the player I am and how I know I can contribute. I’m just going to keep doing that, keep doing my thing.”
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