In Nashville, the Predators needed a win to erase the memory of the dusting they took from the Dallas Stars in the previous two games, both losses.
Roman Josi ended the Preds’ three-game skid with a goal at 1:57 of extra time for a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night.
“I saw some space,” Josi said. “[Granlund] made a good play down low. He dropped it to me, and I saw that I had some space, and from there I was thinking about just taking it to the net and making a move on the goalie. Luckily it went in.”
Pekka Rinne made 18 saves for the victory.
“It was a gutsy win,” Rinne said. “It was big for us. Obviously, a disappointing trip to Dallas, even though we felt like we played fairly well. Obviously, it was a disappointing outcome, especially the first game. Crucial win for sure. It’s a back to back, huge points and every game is so important right now. Just the way we played tonight, I thought that it was a full 60 minutes and overtime. We continued pressing. We were attacking the game and doing a lot of the right things, so you’ve got to give a lot of credit to the guys for sticking with it and playing hard.”
Dylan Strome staked the Blackhawks to a 1-0 lead before both teams traded goals ahead of the extra session.
“I thought overall, we weren’t willing to skate it, weren’t willing to drive our legs when we got it, when we had time,” Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton said. “We need to be an option also, so we can advance the puck cleanly. So, many guys need to be better.”
Yakov Trenin evened the game at 1-1 for the Predators.
Mattias Janmark restored the Hawks lead at 2-1.
“I mean, we were hemmed in there, so just trying to stay in coverage,” Janmark said. “I saw him looking up at their [defenseman], so I don’t know. I bait him a little bit, maybe. I think I had a good position on the [defenseman], just trying to make sure he doesn’t 
jump by me. But as soon as I see the pass coming, I try to jump on it. I think all the guys on the ice were tired, even them. that’s when I think you can create those little extra chances. When you have that ability late in a shift, that’s where the game opens up, so that was nice.”
Mikael Granlund scored just past the midway point of the third period to get the teams even and into overtime.
“I think that’s the story of the night,” Granlund said. “We were just talking, ‘You’ve got to stick with it.’ Just do the right things and it’s going to come, and we were rewarded tonight. I hope it shows that for everybody. You’ve just got to do the right things, stick with it and the results are going to come.”
Malcolm Subban made 36 saves in the loss.
“We had a good start,” Colliton said. “I liked the first period. We defended pretty well, decent forecheck, recovered some pucks and had some opportunities to even create more. The power play did a good job and scored. As the game went on, we didn’t have enough guys going, both up front and on the back end. And I thought we got worn down.”
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