Predators top Avalanche in shootout, move into first West wild card

DENVER -- The Nashville Predators moved into the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with a 5-4 shootout win against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Thursday.

Nashville leads the Dallas Stars by one point with one game for each team remaining. Each has already clinched a playoff spot.
Matt Duchene scored the lone shootout goal, Roman Josi and Mattias Ekholm each had a goal and an assist for the Predators (45-29-7), who had lost three straight. David Rittich made 42 saves.

Cale Makar, J.T. Compher, Logan O'Connor, and Artturi Lehkonen scored for the Avalanche (56-19-6), who have lost five of their last six. Darcy Kuemper made 33 saves.
"I had no problems with our game through two periods. None. Zero. I thought we played well, especially through two periods," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We didn't give up hardly any scoring chances. I would say the difference in the hockey game, to be fair, was 'Kuemps' had an off night."
Colorado, who have clinched the top spot in the Western Conference, set an Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques record with for most points in a season with 119.
Ekholm tied it at 4-4 with a shot from the point at 4:11 of the third period for Nashville, which trailed by two goals twice in the game.
"We dug ourselves a hole early, obviously with some penalty trouble, we gave up a couple there. These are big points, there's a difference between playing these guys or Calgary." Ekholm said. "They had some shifts in that second period where they got momentum, but we stood tall."

Makar scored on the power play to make it 1-0 when he beat Rittich with a shot from the point at 2:01 of the first period.
"Obviously, [playoffs are] right there in front of us. We have to be ready and we've been on a little bit of a not-so-hot streak here, but at the same time I still think the confidence in the group is very high and we know what we're capable of," Makar said. "Obviously, we got one more coming up here, but we've definitely been ready for playoffs for the past few weeks, that's for sure."
Lehkonen pushed the lead to 2-0 after he redirected Josh Manson's shot at 6:46 of the period.
Duchene scored to make it 2-1 with a wrist shot from the point that went through traffic and Kuemper at 11:46 of the first.
"To us it's important, we felt, coming into these few games as we want to still play at a level that that's going to give us the best chance to win and be consistent in that," Predators coach John Hynes said. "So when you do start playoffs, regardless of who you play, that you feel good about your game and feel like your game's in order and guys are playing the way that we need to be able to play."
O'Connor extended the lead to 3-1 when he fired a loose puck into the open net while both teams thought it had gone out of play at 16:59 of the period.
"It just sort of landed right where I shot it off Josi," O'Connor said. "I think it landed right on my stick pretty much, and everyone was looking around. So fortuitous bounce for sure, but it was nice to get a greasy one there."

Ryan Johansen scored to make it 3-2 at 3:17 of the second period.
Compher made it 4-2 after he fired home a one-timer from between the circles at 9:24 of the period.
Josi made it 4-3 on the power play after skating the length of the ice and beating Kuemper at 16:28 of the second. The play was originally ruled no goal but was overturned upon review.
"[Josi] feels it goes off his stick and he looks up and he gets eight other guys on the ice to look up as well, but one guy doesn't," Ekholm said. "We saw it on the bench but it was too late to yell or scream at that point. So sometimes that happens, and unlucky for us but good on us to battle back."
NOTES: Josi tied Shea Weber for the most goals by a defenseman in a season in franchise history. Weber scored 23 goals twice (2008-09 and 2013-14). … Josi's extended his point steak (three goals, four assists) to five games. … Duchene extended his point streak (five goals, five assists) to seven games. … Mikael Granlund extended his assist streak to three games (eight assists). … Filip Forsberg extended his point streak to seven games (four goals, seven assists). … Compher extended his point streak (two goals, four assists) to five games. … Lehkonen set his NHL career high with 19 goals. … Mikko Rantanen was minus-2 in 24:10 of ice time after missing four games due to a non-COVID illness.