Forsberg, Duchene Star as Preds Come Back to Beat Panthers in Overtime

Don't just call it a comeback - because it deserves a better title than that.
Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene each tallied twice, including Duchene to tie the game before Forsberg won it, and the Nashville Predators came back to beat the Florida Panthers by a 6-5 final in overtime on Thursday night at BB&T Center. The result gives the Preds their first road win of the season and snaps their two-game skid on the Florida road trip.
Duchene's tallies were his first two of the campaign, and Forsberg also recorded three assists for his first-career five-point night to tie a Preds franchise record for most points in a single regular-season game.
And what a night it was.

"It was obviously a great comeback," Forsberg said. "We were working really hard…and had to battle back in the third and that's what we did. That's how we got rewarded this time. I thought we earned more than we got [during losses to Tampa Bay] in those third periods. We obviously came back strong there too, but here we are, we got two huge goals…and a huge two points."
"It's a good learning experience for us, and I am just so proud of the boys for showing that kind of effort," Duchene said. "We did some really good things."

Florida scored the game's first goal fewer than two minutes into the contest, as Jonathan Huberdeau beat Juuse Saros, but Forsberg responded on the power play with his fifth of the season at 9:02 of the opening period. After former Preds forward Patric Hornqvist gave his team the lead again just over a minute later, Forsberg set up Calle Jarnkrok, who returned to the lineup after missing six games due to injury, for a 2-2 score after 20 minutes.

The teams traded goals again in the second. Following a power-play goal for Florida's Aaron Ekblad, Forsberg set up Duchene on a 2-on-1 to give the Preds centerman his first of the season. The Panthers took the lead once more with another power-play goal, this time from Aleksander Barkov, and Huberdeau's second of the night made it 5-3 Florida after two periods.

Pekka Rinne took over for Saros in net to start the final frame, and in addition to the goaltending switch, the Preds were simply a better team as they emerged for the third.
"We just talked about each guy just doing whatever they could to help the team win," Duchene said of the second-intermission conversation in the locker room. "It sounds really simple, but I think in the second period we were passing problems off to each other. I think we were settling a puck down that was rolling, and we just swapped it over to our teammate and said, 'Here, deal with it.' …But it's a good learning experience for us"

"There was no quit," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "We were going to drive that third period the way that we wanted to play, and it's nice to see guys do it and get rewarded for it, because I think there's been some games where we've certainly deserved better than we've gotten. Tonight, that's nice."

The Preds continued to push throughout the third, and with an extra attacker, Captain Roman Josi scored Nashville's fourth of the night. Additionally, the Panthers challenged the play for a high stick on the puck, but the call stood, forcing Florida to take a bench-minor penalty to put the Preds on the power play.
And then, with just 57 seconds to play in regulation, Duchene potted his second of the night.
"I've been through these kinds of crazy stints in my career where I've been playing well and getting a ton of chances and have not been able to get it to go," Duchene said. "This was probably the first time I really just didn't ever panic. I got mad a couple times, but I never started changing my game… Hockey has a funny way of rewarding you, and you focus on the team first and that was my mentality. Fil obviously gave me a gift there for the first one, and the second one, it's pretty fun to get that one and tie the game and get us a big point."

A second, bigger point in the standings was secured with exactly one minute to play in overtime as Forsberg beat Sergei Bobrovsky on a breakaway for his fifth point of the night and one of the more dramatic wins in recent memory.

"Fil, I think he had a magnet on a stick tonight," Duchene said. "It was unbelievable. He could've had 10 points tonight. The plays he was making, everything seemed to go in that he touched tonight, so I guess I was a beneficiary of just being on the ice at the same time as him tonight."
The play of both Forsberg and Duchene worked out well for everyone on Nashville's side, and there was satisfaction aplenty for the pair of offensive stars.
"When they're playing the game the right way and they're getting their chances, and tonight, they found a way to be able to score and obviously produce points and make some great plays, but it's good to see them get rewarded," Hynes said of Forsberg and Duchene. "Some nights we've sat here and said that we haven't scored enough or guys haven't done as much as we'd like them to. But for those two guys tonight, it was good to see them be able to get rewarded for their hard work."
The Predators certainly took a moment to celebrate the well-earned victory, but their attention will quickly shift to another meeting with the Panthers on Friday night and a chance to steal another win before heading back home.
If the Preds receive performances anything like what they got on Thursday, they'll likely be pleased once more.
"We can build off of that," Hynes said. "It's easy to do it sometimes when you get rewarded for doing the right things, and we've got to make sure we're ready to go tomorrow."

Notes:
Forsberg's five-point night marked just the fifth time in franchise history a Preds player has recorded five points in a single game. Forsberg is just the second forward to do so, joining J-P Dumont, Dan Hamhuis, Marek Zidlicky and Roman Josi.
The only other time the Preds overcame four separate deficits in a game and won was on
Oct. 10, 2019 versus Washington
.
Thursday's contest was just the third time in the past 30 years that two opposing players recorded five or more points each in the same contest (Forsberg and Huberdeau). The last instance was on
March 1, 2009
when Mark Recchi (TBL) and Jarome Iginla (CGY) combined for the feat.
Preds center Ryan Johansen did not play in the third period due to injury, and Hynes did not have an update on Johansen's status following the game.
Luke Kunin (day-to-day, lower body) and Mark Borowiecki were scratched for Nashville on Thursday. Forward Eeli Tolvanen was recalled from the taxi squad prior to the game and dressed for the second time this season.
Nashville's four-game road trip concludes tomorrow night with the second half of the back-to-back set with the Panthers at 6 p.m. CT. The Preds then return to Bridgestone Arena for a four-game homestand that begins with a back-to-back against Tampa Bay on Monday and Tuesday.