In Nashville, the Predators avoided a debacle on home ice with a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars in overtime.
Craig Smith scored with 5:00 gone in the first extra session to give the Preds the win and tie their series with Dallas at 1-1.
“It was kind of a delayed reaction,” Smith said. “I didn’t see what it hit or how it went in or if it was in. Pretty exciting stuff. I’ve been on the bench watching overtime winners, but never have gotten one before, so it was awesome. It was cool.”
Dallas had their chances to make this series a one-sided affair but their went score43less in six power play chances.
“I think we needed to shoot a little bit more,” Dallas forward Mats Zuccarello said. “Obviously I think we didn’t play our best game today, but we’re playing a really good team over there. If you would’ve asked me before the series if we would take a 1-1 series going home, I would take it. It’s a good home team. We gave them two good games.”
Jamie Benn scored the lone Dallas goal for a 1-0 lead.
Pekka Rinne made 22 saves for the won.
“It’s a thriller when it comes to an [overtime] game,” Rinne said. “It’s a one-shot game. But I thought that we did an unbelievable job, especially the third period and [overtime]. We were able to pressure them hard, get the puck in their zone and they had to ice the puck a lot. We kept changing fresh bodies on the ice and kept the pace of the game really high. I felt confident that we were going to get it, but until you see that hit the back of the net, you just try to stay in the moment.”
Rocco Grimaldi knotted the game up at 1-1.
[WATCH: Stars vs. Predators Game 2 highlights | Complete series coverage]
Ben Bishop made 40 saves in the loss.
“We’re going to move on from this game just as quick as we moved on from winning last game. This is a seven-game series here,” Tyler Seguin said, “We came into Nashville wanting to get one and steal one. That’s what we wanted to do on the road, and we did that. We’re excited to get home and play in front of our fans.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.