CHICAGO — Filip Forsberg scored his second goal of the game one minute into overtime to give the Nashville Predators a 4-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Wednesday.
He got around Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews along the right boards and shot high past goalie Collin Delia from below the right face-off circle to win it.
“I was hoping, obviously, to be a little cleaner on the boards,” said Forsberg, whose 16 goals in 28 games lead Nashville. “[Toews] played it pretty well, gave me a couple whacks, but just try to fight it off, and once I got close, it was pretty open short side, so just try to lift it.”
[WATCH: All Predators vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Chicago’s Artem Anisimov tied the game 3-3 with 2:21 remaining in the third period on a shot from the right hash marks off a pass from Patrick Kane.
Colton Sissons and Viktor Arvidsson scored, and Ryan Johansen and Mattias Ekholm each had two assists for the Predators (27-15-3), who have won three in a row and are 5-0-1 in their past six games. Pekka Rinne made 28 saves.
Video: NSH@CHI: Forsberg snipes PPG over Delia’s glove
Alex DeBrincat and Toews scored, and Kane had two assists for the Blackhawks (16-22-8), who have lost two in a row and are 1-2-2 in their past five games. Delia made 33 saves.
“I think we did a pretty good job of not giving them much,” Toews said. “We were playing patient, and I ended up getting beat (by Forsberg) there. Thought I could try and snag the puck, but [Forsberg] is obviously a pretty good puck carrier and strong on it and managed to beat me.”
Forsberg, whose 27 game-winning goals are second in Predators history behind David Legwand’s 41, was activated from injured reserve Monday before a 4-0 win at the Toronto Maple Leafs after missing 17 games with an upper-body injury.
“I feel like he’s been skating during this injury and stuff like that,” Arvidsson said. “He’s a great player and he knows what he’s good at and he does it to the best of his abilities. You can see it on the ice, he’s really comfortable and he’s having fun.”
Video: NSH@CHI: Kane sets up Anisimov late to pass Hull
Sissons gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 6:49 of the first period with a one-timer from the slot off a Kevin Fiala pass from below the goal line.
DeBrincat tied it 1-1 at 17:51 of the first with a power-play goal on a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle off a pass from Kane.
“Just try to find the seam and you know he’s going to pass it there,” DeBrincat said. “He’s going to put it right there in my wheelhouse. That’s just my work, I got to get open and find that seam, and he’s always looking for me.”
Arvidsson scored eight seconds later to make it 2-1 at 17:59. He scored with a backhand on a breakaway after receiving a pass up the middle from P.K. Subban.
Video: NSH@CHI: Arvidsson speeds past defense, pots backhand
Forsberg gave Nashville a 3-1 lead at 16:26 of the second period when he scored on the power play with a wrist shot near the top of the right circle that went inside the right post.
Toews made it 3-2 with 20 seconds left in the period with a shorthanded goal from the high slot off Marcus Kruger‘s backhand pass from the right circle.
Video: EA Sports Overtime Winner: Forsberg wins it for Preds
They said it
“I don’t think we played as well as we did in the last two games, but we found a way to win a hockey game, so you take the points and move on, but I think we need to be a little bit tighter with what we’re doing, just going up and down a little bit too much from the previous two games. I just thought it was a tighter game.” — Predators coach Peter Laviolette
“I think aside from the one goal we gave up, for the most part, I don’t think we gave up too much on the penalty kill (3-for-4). Obviously, we want to stay off the kill if we can, but that’s a good two-way game and that’s a pretty good team. There’s a reason why they’re where they’re at in the standings.” — Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews
Video: NSH@CHI: Toews goes top shelf for shorthanded marker
Need to know
Ekholm’s assist on Sissons’ goal was his 150th NHL point. He has two goals and five assists in a four-game point streak. … Predators defenseman P.K. Subban has two goals and three assists in a four-game point streak. … Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook was scratched because he was ill. … Chicago defenseman Gustav Forsling (upper torso) was placed on injured reserve Wednesday. … Kane’s assist on Anisimov’s goal was his 550th in the NHL, passing Bobby Hull (549) for fourth in Blackhawks history. He is four behind Doug Wilson for third. … Kane has 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in his past 12 games. … Erik Gustafsson extended his assist streak to seven games with an assist on DeBrincat’s goal. He has nine assists during the streak, which is the longest for a Chicago defenseman since Duncan Keith had 10 assists in eight games from Nov. 19-Dec.3, 2013. …
What’s next
Predators: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, FS-TN, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday (8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, WGN, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
from A Viral Update http://bit.ly/2shP6ub
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