A missed penalty call ignites a game-winning short-handed goal, deciding the Predators' fate against the Red Wings in a contentious matchup.
A missed tripping call leading to a short-handed goal by the Detroit Red Wings stood as the game-winning goal in a 4-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Monday at Bridgestone Arena.
On a Predators power play in the second period, Roman Josi was tripped along the boards by Marco Kasper, leading to a 2-on-1 the other way. Kasper made a cross-ice pass to Albert Johansson, who scored the game-winning goal.
The trip was not reviewed by the referees and the goal stood.
"I thought it was a trip. I fell pretty hard, but that stuff happens out there," Josi said. "I certainly make a lot of mistakes out there. That's not why we lost the game. We had a lot of other things that we could do better, and we had our looks in the third."
Both Nashville and Detroit also had goals disallowed in the game due to goaltender interference.
Emmitt Finnie opened the scoring 4:51 into the game, putting away a Kasper rebound as Juuse Saros lost his net for an early 1-0 Red Wing lead.
Filip Forsberg responded on the power play, one-timing a pass from Luke Evangelista into the net. It was Forsberg's 26th goal of the season and Evagelista's team-leading 37th assist.
In the second period, Jonathan Marchessault scored on a tap-in off a pass from O'Reilly to give Nashville its first and only lead of the game.
Nearly three minutes later, Lucas Raymond tapped in a cross-ice pass from Alex DeBrincat into the net to tie things up.
While the Johansson goal ended up being the game-winner, head coach Andrew Brunette said the one play wasn't the reason the Predators lost, as they "got away from their game" in the second period, getting outscored, 2-1.
"The game was lost in the second period, losing those puck battles that ended up leading to goals," Brunette said. "We turned too many pucks over in that area, and it got us. They're a really good rush team. It was disappointing because the effort was there."
Statistically, Detroit gave away the puck more on the night, 16 to 11.
DeBrincat iced the game on an empty net goal with 26 seconds left in the game.
The Predators fall to 27-25-8 on the year and still sit three points outside of the final Wild Card spot with 62 points. Tonight, Seattle (65 points) hosts Carolina and Utah (66 points) takes on Colorado in Salt Lake City.
The bubble between the playoffs and missing out continues to grow with the trade deadline now four days away.
"All we can control right now is winning games," Evangelista said. "We keep winning games, keep climbing the standings and getting points. That's what we can control, and if we do that, I think there's a good chance the team's gonna stick together."
Nashville has a quick turnaround, facing the Columbus Blue Jackets on the road on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CST.