Ottawa, Ontario – The Nashville Predators were a tale of two teams tonight, pulling themselves out of a second period hole to pull even in tonight’s game against the Ottawa Senators, only to fall short in the over-time, 5-4.
Nashville has managed to pick up 5 points on this four game road trip so far and have a date with the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
The Predators got off to a hot start in the first period with 17 shots on goal and a 1-0 lead at the end of the period. Craig Smith who has scored three goals in his last two games put the Predators on the board at 11:16 taking a pass behind the net and beating Marcus Hogberg for the early marker.
The game appeared to be slipping away from the Predators in the third, when Brady Tkachuk fired a shot from the top of the circle that beat Juuse Saros in goal for Nashville and Ottawa looked to be putting the Predators away, 4-1.
Then things started to turn around for Nashville.
Rocco Grimaldi swung around the Ottawa net and put the rebound of his initial shot into the back of the net and Nashville pulled to within two, 4-2. Grimaldi scored just fifteen seconds after the Tkachuk goal.
Ryan Johansen got on the scoreboard at 9:39 of the final frame when his power play goal pulled Nashville to within a goal, 4-3. Roman Josi would tie the game at 13:07, weaving through three Ottawa defenders to beat Hogberg, for the equalizer, 4-4.
As the teams went to the three-on-three overtime period, Nashville was called for a controversial penalty when Callie Jarnkrok was called for holding Erik Brannstrom, putting the Predators down a man.
It didn’t take long after that for Anthony Duclair to end the mystery, beating Saros with his shot from the point and the Ottawa victory, 5-4.
The Predators wrap up this road trip in “Beantown” on Saturday night to play the Bruins. Boston lost a thriller to the New York Islanders tonight in overtime, 3-2.
Nashville returns to Bridgestone Arena for their last game before the Christmas holiday on Monday night as they will host the Arizona Coyotes. Puck drop is at 7:00pm.
