A three-goal lead was just not enough for the St Louis Blues in Nashville Tuesday.
The Blues built a 3-0 lead through two periods and then frittered it away in yielding three goals in the third period including a shorthanded goal to Austin Watson.
Watson had two goals in the win.
Pekka Rinne settled down the third period Tuesday to help the Predators rally for a 4-3 win in OT over the Blues – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
But it was Filip Forsberg, who was awarded a penalty shot in overtime, who nailed the game-winner.
“It’s really bad for two periods, and then it’s a great third period,” Forsberg said. “Huge goals from [Jarnkrok] to start, and then two unbelievable goals by [Watson]. And here we are.”
Calle Jarnkrok started the rally in the third period and Watson finished it off to force the extra session.
“I mean we obviously dug ourselves a big hole against a good team. Now we see what happens when we don’t play, and we also see what happens when we do play. We’ll learn from both things for sure,” Forsberg said after the dramatic rally and win.
For most of the fist 40 minutes of the game, it was all Blues as Jay Bouwmeester, Alexander Steen and Jaden Schwartz struck for the St Louis goals.
“Obviously they had a push,” Blues coach Mike Yeo said. “We knew they would. We knew they’d come out hard. We talked about in between the second and third making sure that we dictated in terms of pace and direction, and I felt that we just absorbed a bit too much there.”
Pekka Rinne made 28 saves to pick up the win as the Preds improved to 34-12-9.
“I don’t know if I can [explain the comeback],” Watson said. “I don’t think there’s a recipe for that other than just continuing to work, not getting discouraged. Obviously frustrated by the effort that we put out for the first two periods, but this group never backs off and never gives up. We kept pushing, and we were able to get a couple to go for us and tie it up.”
Nashville leads the Blues in the Central Division by five points for the lead.
[WATCH: All Blues vs. Predators highlights]
Carter Hutton made 29 saves for the loss as the Blues dropped to 34-21-4.
“It was big, there’s no question, but still you’ve got a 3-2 lead with four minutes left and still some power play time,” Yeo said after his team coughed up a three-goal lead. “We got a couple of quick chances but to give up another one right as the power play expires, we have to do a better job there. Things happen through the course of a game, and you have to be able to deal with that. Obviously, when they had a push and they got some momentum, it seemed to put us on our heels a little too much.”
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