James Neal scores in OT to lift Predators past Jets

NASHVILLE -- James Neal scored on the power play 2:11 into overtime to give the Nashville Predators a 5-4 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Bridgestone Arena on Monday.
Neal beat goaltender Connor Hellebuyck from the right faceoff circle for his 20th goal 34 seconds after Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien was called for hooking Ryan Johansen.
The Predators (34-24-11) lead the St. Louis Blues by two points for third place in the Central Division.

WATCH: All Jets vs. Predators highlights
"It was definitely a character win," defenseman Roman Josi said. "I think it wasn't our best game. We made a lot of mistakes. [Goaltender Pekka Rinne] kept us in the game. They had a lot of chances, especially in the second, but we found a way somehow."
The Jets (30-33-7) scored the first two goals but couldn't prevent a fourth straight loss (0-3-1).
Johansen tied the game 4-4 at 4:23 of the third period when his shot off a pass from Filip Forsberg squeaked past Hellebuyck.
"I had a pretty good chance myself, I have to admit," Forsberg said. "But at the same time, I saw [Johansen] over there. He made no mistake."
Joel Armia gave the Jets a 4-3 lead at 8:39 of the second period when he beat Rinne with a wrist shot from the left circle.
"I think we started right and had a good pace to our game," Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. "I didn't like the number of times we didn't get pucks in, in the third period. I think it took our offensive game away from us a little bit."

The Jets thought they had a 5-3 lead when Mathieu Perreault beat Rinne on a rebound 13:01 into the second period, but Predators coach Peter Laviolette challenged that the play leading to the goal was offside, and it was overturned after video review.
Forsberg gave the Predators a 3-2 lead 19 seconds into the second period. Johansen led the 2-on-1 rush and passed it to Forsberg, who beat Hellebuyck for his 28th goal.
Patrik Laine scored to tie it 3-3 at 3:38 of the second on a wrist shot from the right circle on the rush. It was his 33rd goal, two behind Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins for the NHL lead.
Blake Wheeler gave the Jets a 1-0 lead at 3:40 of the first period on the power play.
Byfuglien put the Jets ahead 2-0 at 12:11 of the first period on a one-timer from below the right circle, but Austin Watson scored 23 seconds later to get the Predators within 2-1. Maurice challenged that the Predators were offside before Watson's goal, but video review confirmed the initial call.
Mike Fisher scored to tie it 2-2 with 10.6 seconds remaining in the first period.
Jets forward Marko Dano left the game in the third period after taking a hit from defenseman Ryan Ellis. There was no update following the game.
Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba missed the game with an upper-body injury and is day to day.

Goal of the game

Johansen beat Hellebuyck with a sharp-angled redirection from below the right circle off a pass from Forsberg from the slot to help send the game to overtime.

Save of the game

Rinne made a stick save when Laine tried to shoot though the five-hole on a breakaway at 1:24 of overtime.

Unsung performance of the game

Josi split Laine and Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers with a breakout pass into the neutral zone to Craig Smith that led to Fisher's goal on the rush.

Highlight of the game

Watson scored from the right circle after moving around Jets defenseman Mark Stuart with a toe-drag move. With Anthony Bitetto driving to the net, Watson beat Hellebuyck on the blocker side.

They said it

"There's some good things with some guys that don't play those kinds of minutes and they play real well, and some things you've got to get better at. For guys who aren't used to playing against a team that's got a real unusual style, there's lots of seam plays and [are] pretty aggressive offensively, I think for the most part those guys did as [good] as they can." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice on playing without defensemen Jacob Trouba, Toby Enstrom and Tyler Myers
"I think to start, we obviously want to do a better job of not putting ourselves in that position. But at the same time, we've built that confidence over the year that we can come back from any deficit, really. We keep proving that to ourselves that we can do that." -- Predators forward Filip Forsberg

Need to know

Laine had seven shots on goal and nine shot attempts in 17:41 of ice time. … Neal has scored 20 or more goals in each of the first nine seasons of his NHL career.

What's next

Jets:At the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, TSN3, NHL.TV)
Predators: At the Washington Capitals on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CSN-DC, FS-TN, NHL)