Forsberg Leads Preds to Overtime Victory Against Blackhawks

Filip Forsberg decided the Predators weren’t about to leave Chicago without two more points in their possession. 

The Nashville winger potted a pair of goals - including the overtime winner - as Nashville came back to beat the Chicago Blackhawks by a 3-2 final on Sunday afternoon at United Center. The result sees the Preds extend their win streak to a season-high four games and remain in the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. 

Steven Stamkos also tallied on the day, and Forsberg added an assist as well. Plus, goaltender Juuse Saros returned from injury to make 26 saves and help the visitors to sweep their back-to-back weekend set to reach the 75-point mark. 

“It's great,” Forsberg said of the win “Obviously, back-to-backs are always challenging, especially when the other team is fresh and ready to go. But I thought we stuck with it. Maybe it wasn't the prettiest game, but we defended pretty well. ‘Juice’ made some incredible saves when we needed it. [We] needed him to, and a couple timely goals as well.”

“We knew it'd be a tough game and a back-to-back,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “And they're a fast team, and they came with a lot of energy at us. I thought we started off well, probably got a little loose at different stretches of the game, and ‘Little Juice’ made some big saves, which the way our team is, we're going to need goaltending, and we got goaltending… Fil was outstanding. Fil did some Fil things, and that was the hockey game.”

Neither club found the back of the net in the opening 20 minutes, and after Chicago struck first in the second stanza, Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault teamed up for a give-and-go that was finished off by the Swede to even the score. However, Connor Bedard converted on a breakaway to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead through two periods of play.

The Predators needed an equalizer in the third, and they found one when Forsberg fed Stamkos in front of the cage where the veteran tapped in his 32nd marker of the season to force overtime. 

Then, in the extra session, Forsberg took over once more and beat Spencer Knight to the top corner to cap off a day of offensive expertise from Nashville’s most skilled skater.

“We needed somebody,” Brunette said. “I knew we'd be low on gas here today. We need somebody to make plays, to make something happen, and he grabbed it. We were kind of waiting for parts of the game, somebody [to take over], and he said, ‘You know what, I'm going to take it.’ So, he took it. And obviously, ‘Juice’ was outstanding and got out of here with the W.”

Just 24 hours ago, the Preds jumped into a playoff spot, and on Sunday, they only solidified that position. Now, with just 12 games to go and a three-game homestand ahead, they’d love nothing more than to extend the streak on Tuesday against a San Jose team that will be challenging them for that postseason berth the rest of the way. 

“Massive match, obviously, on Tuesday against one of the teams that are hunting us,” Forsberg said. “We’ve just got to keep making these kinds of efforts. It’s not going to be smooth water the whole time through, but doing a lot of good things right now and getting rewarded for it, so we’ve got to keep that.”

“We want to move up [in the standings],” Brunette said. “We want to keep moving forward. We don't want to look back. And we've been a resilient group that has a lot of belief in ourselves, and we're just going to keep moving forward. We haven't dwelled on where we were once all year, even when we're kind of at the bottom looking up. And we're going to keep that same attitude here going forward.”

Notes: 

Goaltender Juuse Saros returned to the Nashville lineup on Sunday after missing two games with an upper-body injury. As a result, the Predators reassigned netminder Matt Murray to Milwaukee. 

Defenseman Adam Wilsby returned for the Preds on Sunday after missing time with a lower-body injury. Forward Joakim Kemell also appeared for Nashville against the Blackhawks with Ozzy Wiesblatt and Justin Barron serving as healthy scratches. 

With their back-to-back weekend now complete, the Predators will begin a three-game homestead on Tuesday night when they host San Jose - the first of three contests against the Sharks before the end of the season.