Predators rally, send Capitals to third straight loss

NASHVILLE -- The Nashville Predators scored two goals in 28 seconds in the third period in a 6-5 win against the Washington Capitals at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Ryan Johansen scored two goals, and Matt Duchene and Filip Forsberg each had a goal and an assist for the Predators (3-1-0).
"We were just resilient and found a way to win the hockey game," Johansen said. "Good team. Good players. We made some plays, and our character in our room came out. We just kept chipping away and kept playing our game and found a way to create some chances and put it in the net."
WATCH: [All Capitals vs. Predators highlights]
Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, John Carlson had three assists, and Braden Holtby made 32 saves for the Capitals (2-1-2), who lost their third game in a row and had a four-game point streak to start the season end.
"It's happening a couple of different ways where momentum is being turned in the opposition's favor," Washington coach Todd Reirden said. "It's really, from us, the play with the puck when you have the lead is not giving ourselves a chance to have success, and in turn we're giving up way too many chances."

Nick Bonino scored for the Predators on a rebound to tie the game 5-5 at 14:52 of the third period.
Mattias Ekholm scored 28 seconds later on a slap shot from the point to give the Predators a 6-5 lead at 15:20.
"It feels like we can turn the corner any minute really," Ekholm said. "We can go really slow for two minutes and then it just happens to be two good shifts and then we score two goals. The personnel that we have up there and the lines that are starting to really click now is going to be huge offensive threats for us and is going to win games for us as they did tonight."
T.J. Oshie gave the Capitals a 5-4 lead at 10:09 of the third on a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.
Duchene, who signed a seven-year contract with the Predators on July 1, scored his first goal with Nashville to tie the game 4-4 at 6:13 of the third period on a one-timer from below the right circle off a pass from Forsberg from the slot.
Lars Eller gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 9:17 of the first period.
Forsberg scored on a breakaway to tie the game 1-1 at 10:39 of the first period.
Ovechkin gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead at 4:46 of the second period with a one-timer on the power play. He received a pass from Carlson and beat Predators goalie Pekka Rinne, who made 21 saves.
Johansen tied it 2-2 at 7:37 of the second period when he scored on the rush off a pass from Viktor Arvidsson.
Tom Wilson gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead with a shorthanded goal on the rush at 12:28 of the second period. Ovechkin made it 4-2 at 17:36 when he scored on another power-play one-timer.
Johansen scored his second goal of the game to make it 4-3 on the power play at 5:03 of the third period. He scored from in front of the net on the rebound of an Arvidsson shot.

They said it

"We're too good to make [those] mistakes. We talked about it before the third period. We have to manage the puck right. You can see we make the turnover, make the mistakes, and it cost us again. Two points." -- Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin
"I think it says a lot. I think we've been playing really well in the third period in all the games, really. I guess [against the Detroit Red Wings] was a good period too in the third, we just gave up a couple odd-man rushes that they scored on. The third period is key, and it's been working really well so far." -- Predators forward Filip Forsberg on the comeback win

Need to know

Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom played in his 900th NHL game. … Forsberg scored in his fourth consecutive game, a Predators record for consecutive games with a goal to begin a season. He was tied with Steve Sullivan, who scored in three consecutive games to begin the 2010-11 season.

What's next

Capitals:At the Dallas Stars on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-SW, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Predators: At the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday (6 p.m. ET; FS-W, FS-TN, NHL.TV)