In Nashville, Carolina’s Ryan Peace forced overtime on Friday night when he knotted the game late, 4-4, with the Predators.
Matt Duchene helped the Nashville Predators get back in the series when he scored his first of the postseason at 14:54 of the second overtime session, for a 5-4 win.
“Enjoy it tonight, take the good vibes and move forward, and keep going at the task at hand here,” Duchene said.
Juuse Saros made 52 saves in the win.
“It feels really good,” Nashville head coach John Hynes said. “It’s nice we found a way to win and get ourselves back in the series. For the players, the fans and the organization, it’s a good night.”
Ryan Ellis and Filip Forsberg scored in the opening frame for a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
“I think it was another step in the right direction,” Forsberg said. “I think from Game 1 we got better to Game 2, and I thought we got better tonight and obviously got rewarded with a big win.”
Game 4 is Sunday in Nashville.
“We played our butts off, played great, we played hard,” Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Nashville’s a phenomenal team. I give my guys tons of credit for just sticking with it. We still had great chances to win.”
Ryan Johansson scored early in the period to give the Predators a 4-3 lead.
“It was just an extra effort, getting to the net, trying to beat your check,” Johansen said. “We hadn’t been doing that as much in the past. Tonight we were better at it.”
Mikael Granlund also scored in regulation.
“Give the two guys credit. They came in, they played hard, they played with a little chip on their shoulder tonight,” Hynes said. “They found a way on the scoreboard. … That’s what being a team is all about.”
Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho and Vincent Trocheck also scored for the Canes in regulation.
“I thought we worked really hard, had a ton of chances to finish that game,” Pesce said. “It’s not a good feeling, but every team goes through adversity. It’s a long playoff run, and I think this is going to make us stronger.”
Alex Nedeljkovic made 49 saves in the loss.
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