Preds Come Back to Beat Avalanche in Shootout

Mattias Ekholm tied it; Matt Duchene and David Rittich won it.
The Nashville Predators came back from a 3-1 deficit to defeat the Colorado Avalanche by a 5-4 final in a shootout on Thursday night at Ball Arena in Denver. The result gives the Preds their 45th win of the season and puts them back into the Western Conference's first Wild Card spot with 97 points.
Duchene, Ryan Johansen, Roman Josi and Ekholm all scored in regulation time, and then Duchene - along with Rittich - starred in the breakaway competition. Starting in place of the injured Juuse Saros, Rittich made 42 saves through 65 minutes of regulation time before stopping all three Colorado skaters in the shootout to give the Predators a gutsy win on the road against the top team in the Western Conference in their penultimate game of the season.

Colorado took a 2-0 lead before the game was seven minutes old, but Duchene gave the Predators some life when his wrist shot from the blue line found its way through traffic and past Darcy Kuemper for his 43rd tally of the season.
The Avalanche regained their two-goal lead before the opening period was out, but Johansen's seemingly harmless shot from near the left point early in the second stanza entered the net cleanly to bring the Preds back to within one. Colorado then went up by two again midway through the frame, but then late in the period, while on the power play, Josi went to work by going coast to coast, and he eventually finished off a beautiful play to bring the Predators back to within a goal once more.

Ekholm's blast from the point off a faceoff win at 4:11 of the third period was the equalizer, and after the two clubs traded chances the rest of the way, Duchene was the only skater to score in the shootout to give Nashville one of their more memorable wins of the season.
Josi improved his season totals to 95 points and became just the sixth different defenseman in the past 35 years to record as many points, joining Paul Coffey (1988-89: 30-83-113 in 75 GP & 1989-90: 29-74-103 in 80 GP), Al MacInnis (1990-91: 28-75-103 in 78 GP), Brian Leetch (1991-92: 22-80-102 in 80 GP), Phil Housley (1992-93: 18-79-97 in 80 GP) and Ray Bourque (1986-87: 23-72-95 in 78 GP).

Thursday Storyline:

That's the definition of a greasy road win.
Mattias Ekholm called it as much, and after being down 3-1 after 20 minutes of play in a hostile environment, the Predators didn't let up. And, just as they have on numerous other occasions this season, they found a way and came back once more.
More importantly, on this occasion, they now control their destiny in the Western Conference Wild Card positioning to determine whether or not they'll face Colorado or Calgary in Round One with one more game to go.
But, in the meantime, the Preds got two more points for the 45th time this season, and that never gets old.
"We dug ourselves a hole early with some penalty trouble and gave up a couple there, but resiliency for our team coming back knowing that these are big points," Ekholm said. "David [Rittich], great game for him. I think he was our best player in the lineup, so that was awesome to see, and we found a win. In the third, they had some chances, but when they did, he stood tall and we took care of our business. That was a great road win for us and a big two points."

"We've felt good about how we're playing, and we just had to stay with it mentally," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "And we talked about getting to our game, staying out of the box, and trying to continue to fight our way back into the game. The guys did a good job with that tonight, and we found a way to do it."
All season long, Hynes has preached mental toughness, and an outing like Thursday night in Colorado is Exhibit A of what that fortitude can do when things don't start out as planned.
"It's just a belief in our system and the way we play," Granlund said. "There's no quit, ever, and we've been able to put pucks in the net. Whether it's on the power play or whatever situation, we have that skill and creativity to get those tying goals, whatever it takes."
"Through the course of the year when you can come from behind and have that belief that you can do it and understanding what game you need to play to be able to do it, that helps, and I think tonight was a good example of that," Hynes said. "We played a really good team, and there's some areas that we certainly have to clean up, but I just thought our mental toughness, our focus and staying with things when it didn't go our way early was a big difference in the game tonight."

The past two outings - Tuesday night against Calgary, and then the most recent skirmish in Colorado - have also given the Preds an opportunity to see their two possible first-round opponents just one week before the postseason begins, a fact that certainly won't hurt their preparations.
Those games have also been two of the more intense tests not only this season, but in recent memory for the Preds - another element that surely assists in reaching a level necessary at this time of the year.
"There's potential that we could play Calgary and there's potential that we could play Colorado, so I think it's probably nice for both teams," Hynes said of facing the Avalanche and Flames. "The Calgary game was very intense, the Colorado game tonight was very intense. But each team gets a chance to see each other prior to a possible matchup. But when you're playing teams that you might play in the playoffs, but also teams that are as good as the teams we've played, there's a reason why they're as good as they are. They play the game the right way and they play hard. They're extremely competitive. It's an exciting time of the year. I think the fans and the players are really excited, so the intensity level of the games ramp up."
Now, with just one more game to play in the regular season, the Predators have an opportunity to not only finish the 2021-22 campaign with one more victory, but to also determine where they'll fly to next.
That's just fine by them, and they can't wait for game No. 82.
"Tomorrow, we want to play our best hockey and finish the regular season strong," Hynes said. "We have to make sure our game is in order and feel good about what we're doing and then go from there."

Highlight of the Night:

They Said It:

Preds Head Coach John Hynes on David Rittich's performance:
"It was really good to see him come through. He got put in a tough situation against Calgary the other night and we had a disappointing ending to that game... [Tonight] he stayed with it and made some big saves we needed. Even early in the third, he managed the puck the right way as we gave up some real quality chances. He made some big saves at key times for us, and obviously in the shootout he was big, so it's nice to see him feel good about his game - which is really important."

Notes:

On Wednesday, the Predators announced goaltender Juuse Saros would miss the team's final two games of the regular season after leaving Tuesday's game in the third period. Prior to Thursday's outing, Predators Head Coach John Hynes stated the plan was to start David Rittich in Colorado and give Connor Ingram the start on Friday at Arizona to finish off the regular season. Hynes did not have an additional update on Saros's status on Thursday.
Preds defenseman Jeremy Lauzon (lower-body, week-to-week) participated in Nashville's morning skate on Thursday, and Hynes hinted Lauzon could either play Friday at Arizona or be ready to begin the playoffs when they begin early next week.
Predators forwards Eeli Tolvanen and Matt Luff, as well as defensemen Ben Harpur and Jeremy Davies, were scratched on Thursday.
Nashville's final game of the 2021-22 regular season comes Friday night in Arizona against the Coyotes. The Predators will then either travel back to Colorado or up to Calgary to begin Round One of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs against either the Avalanche or Flames early next week.