Predators edge Chicago, 4-3, on penalties Predators claw their way over .500 in win over Chicago

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In Chicago, the visiting Nashville Predators’ Filip Forsberg  was credited with the deciding marker in a 4-3 win over the Blackhawks on Tuesday night.

“I think we’ll take the two points, obviously not as sharp as we have been,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “It was a hard game to play. There’s going to be games during the season that are going to be like this. We were able to scrape and crawl and get two [points] out of it. I’m happy for the guys.”

Juuse Saros made 25 saves in the win.

“It was kind of a back-and-forth game, some rush chances both ways,” Nashville’s Luke Evangelista said. “It was a little loose in the first and second period, I thought. In the third, it got really tight. You could feel the intensity in the game. Fortunately, we were able to battle that one out and get two points.”

The Predators improved to 13-12-0 off their eighth win in the last 10 games.

“Well, it’s crucial,” Brunette said. “This is a crucial time of the year, kind of the moving time. We’ve stayed in the mix, battled hard. The last 11 games I thought we’ve played really well. We’re trending in the right direction.”

Chicago’s Nick Foligno hit for a double  in the game, his first came at 5:57 of the first to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead.

“Good spots and bad spots, right?” Foligno said. “You saw when we had success what we were doing — we’re playing fast, we’re playing north, we were quick with our decisions and moving the puck. Teams can’t react. We know how it feels when a team does it to us.

“So, when we do it, it’s there. We just don’t sustain it enough. Or we have these little breakdowns that cost us, right? It’s frustrating because we have to clean that up.”

The Predators tied the game, 1-1, on a marker from Evangelista  at 2:11 of the middle frame.

“That’s how you’re going to score in this league, getting to the net, getting a couple of rebound goals there,” Evangelista said. “You’ve got to go to the dirty areas to score in the NHL.”

The Blackhawks dropped to 7-16-1 off their fourth straight loss.

Mark Jankowski gave the Preds a 2-1 lead 26 seconds later.

“It was overall a great, great play by all five guys on the ice,” Jankowski said. “‘Fabs’ [Dante Fabbro] made a great breakout to me, and I saw [Sissons]. I flipped over to him. He did a good job of taking it to the net and getting a good shot on goal, and I just followed it up.

“Just trying to help the team whatever way I can and prove I belong here and stick around, producing offensively when I can, as well.”

Chicago tied it, 2-2, on a strike by Jason Dickinson at 3:09 of the second.

Foligno scored his double at 5:21 t give the Hawks a 3-2 lead.

Ryan O’Reilly knotted the game, 3-3, at 12:59 off a  power play, strike

Arvid Soderblom made 27 saves in the loss.