In Nashville, the New York Rangers trailed 2-0 after the first period, and 3-1 in the middle frame before striking three times for a 4-3 win over the Predators on Saturday.
Ryan O’Reilly scored at 6:19 of the first to give the Preds a 1-0 lead.
Roman Josi followed that up at 15:52 for the 2-0 lead.
“You’re down 2-0 in a game, and it’s always tough to climb out of a hole when you’re on the road,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “The first didn’t go the way we want (outshot 18-8). In the second period, I thought we just played a much better period. We played faster, the power play looked sharper and our guys were more on point and competed hard.
“And then as the game went on, it really became a competitive game, blocking shots, physical, one-on-one battles. I thought our guys did a really good job just crawling back into that game and really gutting one out.”
Jacob Trouba trimmed the deficit to 2-1 with 31 seconds gone in the middle frame.
Igor Shesterkin made 38 saves in the win.
Ryan Lindgren capped the Rangers rally when he scored at 5:10 of the third period to give them a 4-3 lead. that Shesterkin protected for the win.
“Definitely not a great start by us,” Lindgren said. “[Shesterkin] definitely kept us in it. It seemed like in the second period, we kind of got it going. Too many penalties, but for the most part, we battled back and ended up getting the win.”
The Rangers improved to 17-4-1.
Nashville upped the lead to two, when Colton Sissons scored at 7:28 of the second for a 3-1 lead.
The Predators dropped to 11-12-0.
“I thought we played pretty well to be honest,” Nashville defenseman Roman Josi said. “I thought we had a really good first. And in the second, they pushed for a little bit. They’re the best team in the League right now. That’s kind of expected. But to be quite honest, obviously, you don’t want to lose that game, but I thought we played pretty well. Probably deserved to win.”
The Rangers then reeled off three straight goals including two in the middle frame.
“I was horrible in the face-off circle tonight (won 10 of 21), and that played a big factor,” O’Reilly said. “On the PK, I’ve got to at least create a 50-50 battle. I can’t be losing them clean like I have been. That could’ve been the difference tonight, and it’s crazy how it comes down to little plays. I’m disappointed in myself. I was awful in the face-off circle tonight.”
Chris Kreider scored from in front to make it 3-2.
Just 19 seconds after Kreider’s goal, Vincent Trocheck scored off the power play to tie the game, 3-3m headed to the third.
“We found a way to kind of calm ourselves down in between periods and found a way to pick our game back up,” Trouba said. “Came out and played a really good second and followed it up with the third. A lot of guys contributed, especially those last two periods. [Shesterkin] made a lot of good saves. Not our best game I would say, but we found a way to come back and get a win.”
Trocheck had three points on the game.
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Kevin Lankinen made 23 saves in the loss.
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