O'Reilly nets a late winner, breaking the tie and propelling Nashville to a crucial victory in their first post-Olympic break clash.
Ryan O'Reilly's 21st goal of the season in the final five minutes of the game elevated the Nashville Predators to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday at Bridgestone Arena.
It was the Predators' first game since the pause for the Winter Olympics and their first since Feb. 5. The win also puts Nashville just two points outside the final Wild Card spot in the West.
With 3:15 left in the third period, O'Reilly got a feed from Roman Josi from behind the net and put a soft, quick wrist shot on net that beat goalie Spencer Knight five-hole.
Steven Stamkos added an empty net goal in the final minute to ice the game.
Filip Forsberg opened up the scoring, finding the back of the net off a steal along the boards and a wrist shot from the right face-off dot to make it 1-0 in the first period.
It was the first time the Predators had scored the first goal of a game since Jan. 24 against the Utah Mammoth.
Connor Bedard responded for Chicago early in the second to tie things up. In the early third, Adam Wilsby was called for a delay of the game, and Tyler Bertuzzi scored to give the Blackhawks their first lead of the night.
Later in the period, Nick Foligno was called for interference to put Nashville on the power play. Matthew Wood found the back of the net from the left side of the slot to tie the game up at two.
Justus Annunen picked up the win, making 21 saves on 23 shots for his fifth win of the season.
The Predators struggled to stay out of the box, logging 12 penalty minutes to the Blackhawks' four, but went 4-of-5 on the penalty kill.
Nashville heads on the road on Saturday to face the Dallas Stars at 7 p.m. CST. The Stars defeated the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday, 4-1, in their first game since the pause and have won seven straight.