Filip Forsberg and Yakov Trenin scored two last minute goals to get the Predators the win over Cale Makar, Valeri Nichushkin and Central Division rival Colorado Avalanche.
The Nashville Predators faced a difficult test at home against the Colorado Avalanche Monday night. The Predators were coming off Saturday's 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks that snapped a four game losing streak. The same day, the Avalanche defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 to move closer to the Stars in a battle for the top of the Central Division.
The Predators were again without veteran defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Luke Schenn, and Spencer Stastney got his second start of the 2023-24 season with the Predators tonight. In a surprising move, forward Luke Evangelista was a healthy scratch against the Avs, and Liam Foudy came back in the lineup. Juuse Saros got the start in net.
The Colorado Avalanche entered the game with an 11-5 record and coming off a big comeback win over the Dallas Stars. Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen each have 20+ points on the season while former Predator Ryan Johansen leads his new team in power play goals with four. Alexandar Georgiev has struggled at times this season but has a 10-4 record in his 14 starts and took his place in net for the Avs.
The game started off with Gustav Nyquist heading to the penalty box for a tripping call at 1:13, but Nashville was able to kill off the penalty. Nashville got their first chance on the power play at 13:42 as Miles Wood and Cole Smith tangled up and Wood was called for roughing. It was Colorado who got on the board first with a shorthanded goal by Andrew Cogliano at 14:00.
The next four minutes were a flurry of penalty calls which resulted in brief power plays, plenty of four on four time, and a quick three on four. Despite the extra ice space, neither team could capitalize and the teams returned to full strength with less than a minute left in the period.
With under :20 left to play, Cody Glass found Filip Forsberg as he entered the offensive zone and Forsberg skated to the circle and scored on Georgiev to tie the game up at 19:42. The teams headed off the ice tied after twenty minutes.
The Predators got their first lead of the game at 3:55 as Jeremy Lauzon floated a shot from the blue line through traffic and past Georgiev. Extended offensive zone time for the Avalanche and a broken Colton Sissons stick put the pressure on Nashville's defense, and Devon Toews scored at 8:55 to tie the game back up 2-2.
Juuso Pärssinen drew a tripping penalty at 9:54 with his puck handling in the corner, and Jack Johnson sat for two minutes. The Predators power play was able to pressure but not covert on the man advantage. A tripping call on Cole Smith at 13:05 gave Colorado a power play opportunity, and Valeri Nichushkin deflected a Cale Makar shot to score at 13:33.
The Avalanche had another power play chance at the end of the period as Liam Foudy was called for a trip, but the Predators penalty kill passed the two minutes. The teams headed into the second intermission with the Avs leading 3-2.
The third period kicked off with back and forth play through the first ten minutes with Nashville getting a small edge in shots on goal 6-5. At 13:30 Mikko Rantanen was called for tripping, and the Predators went on the power play. Nashville generated chances but again couldn't score of the man advantage.
With less than two minutes remaining, Juuse Saros abandoned the net in favor of the extra attacker. Filip Forsberg tied the game up at 19:22 by batting a loose puck out of the air and past Georgiev. It appeared the game would head into overtime, but Yakov Trenin cleaned up a loose rebound and slid it past Georgiev at 19:38 to give Nashville the late 4-3 win at home over the Avalanche.