Forsberg scores twice, Predators edge Blackhawks in OT for 4th straight win

CHICAGO -- Filip Forsberg scored his second goal of the game at 1:05 of overtime to give the Nashville Predators a 3-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday.

Forsberg, who also had an assist, stripped the puck from Andre Burakovsky behind the net, skated to the front and lifted the puck past Chicago goalie Spencer Knight.

“I think he (Burakovsky) wasn’t expecting someone to come on him pretty quick,” Forsberg said. “I was there, got his stick, was able to get the puck loose. He was kind of out of the play. I was just waiting to see who was coming in. One of our guys, I think it was (Brady) Skjei, was striding hard at the back side. Gave me some room, and I found the top corner.”

Juuse Saros, who missed the previous two games with an upper-body injury, returned to the net and made 26 saves for the Predators (33-28-9), who have won four in a row and five of seven (5-1-1).

“Obviously, ‘Juice’ was outstanding, and we got out of here with a W,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “I thought both goalies -- I thought Spencer was really good -- especially at different stretches of the game where we put some pucks on him and (had) some pretty good looks. And ‘Juice’ coming back kind of right where he left off, I thought he was playing as good as I’ve been around him since the Olympics. His game’s at another level, and he showed it again tonight.”

Nashville moved three points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

“We want to move up,” Brunette said. “We want to keep moving forward. We don’t want to look back. We’ve been a resilient group that has a lot of belief in ourselves, and we’re just going to keep moving forward. We haven’t dwelled on where we were (in the standings) once all year, even when we were kind of at the bottom looking up. We’re going to keep that same attitude here going forward.”

Connor Bedard scored, and Knight made 30 saves for the Blackhawks (26-31-13), who have lost four of five (1-2-2).

“Overtimes are so much, you get three guys on the ice, you get a little bit of systematic stuff, but to say you have all this, (it) comes down to guys making plays,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “We lost the puck. And next thing you know, it’s in our net. I thought (Burakovsky) played great tonight, so a little bit unfortunate. And we didn’t quite react to the breakdown, and it goes in the net. That’s certainly something, if our overtimes have been better, our record would be much better.”

Nick Lardis gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 4:34 of the second period. His wrist shot from the left face-off circle deflected into the net off the stick of Predators defenseman Nicolas Hague.

“I just want to show my strengths when I get that opportunity,” Lardis said. “I thought I was skating pretty well tonight; I thought we generated a decent amount of chances. Obviously as the game got tighter, we kind of got less and less chances as the game goes on, but that’s kind of how it goes when there’s tight games. Overall, I thought it was pretty good. I thought we generated chances and didn’t give up a whole lot.”

Forsberg tied it 1-1 at 6:31, scoring from the slot after taking a pass on a give-and-go from Jonathan Marchessault, who fed it from the right circle.

Bedard gave Chicago a 2-1 lead at 13:57 when he took a stretch pass from Ryan Greene, moved in on Saros and scored after going backhand to forehand.

Steven Stamkos tied it 2-2 at 9:43 of the third period, banking the puck in off the right post after getting a feed from Forsberg in the left circle.

“Phenomenal pass by ‘Marchy’ on the first goal,” Forsberg said. “Nice little O-zone play on the second one. ‘Stammer’ finished it off.”

The game was the second in two days for the Predators, who won 4-1 at home against Vegas on Saturday. 

“I liked it in stretches,” Brunette said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game on a back to back, and they’re a fast team, and they were coming with a lot of energy at us. I thought we started off well, probably got a little loose at different stretches of the game, and ‘Juice’ made some big saves, which with the way our team is, we’re going to need goaltending.”

NOTES: Forsberg recorded his 350th career goal, becoming the sixth Swedish player in NHL history to reach the mark. … Stamkos scored his 373rd career even-strength goal to tie Mats Sundin for 29th place on the NHL’s all-time list … The Blackhawks played most of the game without defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, who left the game at 4:49 of the first period with an apparent upper-body injury. Blashill said Grzelcyk will “miss a little bit” and will be out for the upcoming four-game road trip.