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First shootout of the season? No problem.

Filip Forsberg’s 300th career goal tied the game late, and all three Predators skaters scored in the shootout to come back and defeat the Chicago Blackhawks by a 3-2 final on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds their 1,001st victory in franchise history on a night where they honored three of their best.

After a ceremonial puck drop from David Poile, Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne - the inaugural class of the Preds Golden Hall - Gustav Nyquist, Ryan O’Reilly and Steven Stamkos all tallied in the breakaway competition to finish off a memorable night in Smashville.

“Yeah, that's extra special, having those guys back and just the whole ceremony and yesterday's lunch - it was pretty cool,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “[Poile, Rinne and Weber] had such a massive impact on this organization. So, to be able to honor them, and obviously get the win makes everything a little bit better.”

“I didn't like our start… But then I give our group a lot of credit to dig in deeper going into the third period,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “I thought we got our game going halfway through the second, and then I loved our game in the third. But we're hitting posts and we're missing point blankers, and somewhere deep inside your head, you're going, ‘Oh, here we go again.’ And I'm sure they had the same feeling. But where I give them the world of credit is they dug as deep as they possibly could, and Fil did a Fil thing and got us to overtime. And I felt really confident in the shootout, obviously with [Juuse Saros], but our shooters are pretty elite on shootouts. So, it was a big win for us again, just for the psyche and the mentality and the identity, for us to dig in, I thought, was really good.”

Stamkos gave the Preds a 1-0 lead in the opening frame when he took a feed from Josi and one-timed a shot past Chicago goaltender Arvid Soderblom. However, the Blackhawks held a 2-1 advantage through 40 minutes with goals from Connor Bedard and Alec Martinez in the second stanza.

The Predators were less than pleased with their effort in the early going, but they got progressively better as the night wore on, and in the final frame, they continued to push until Forsberg rifled home a slapper from the right side with less than three minutes to play in regulation to force OT.

“He's one of the best goal scorers in the last 10 years, for sure,” Stamkos said of Forsberg. “I mean, like [Josi] said, it's not as easy as it looks… That's just Fil. He shoots the puck. He's got a gift. And sometimes it's from areas on the ice that you don't expect it to go in, but that's how good his shot is. So when he's trusting it and feeling it like he was tonight on that shot, it's a huge goal for our group.”

After the extra session solved nothing, all three Preds shooters converted, and Nashville netminder Juuse Saros turned aside Connor Bedard to help the home team to the extra point in the standings - and to finish off what Brunette called a “gutsy” win for his group.

“We haven't had a lot of comeback wins, but I think tonight was big for us,” Josi said. “Our start wasn't good, our first [period] wasn't good at all, and got a little bit better in the second [period] but overall, it probably wasn't our best game. But…we kept pushing. Our third period was good. We kept pushing and finally got rewarded.”

“When you've gone through so many of these things during the year, you're not sure what the response will be as a coach, because you can only say it so many times, but this team just keeps coming back,” Brunette said. “I mean, they haven't given up, and they keep digging in, and they keep giving you something every night, even when it gets slow. We've been in every game pretty much all year, besides a couple, and we're in one tonight. And I hope they feel good about themselves.”

Now, the Preds will turn their attention to a Saturday night meeting with Minnesota as the homestand continues, and the hope is a victory in this fashion will continue to boost the confidence.

“I thought that was good, not just the result, but the way we played the third [period],” Forsberg said. “There’s been games where we’ve done the same thing and just couldn't get a goal, and that wears on you. But I think tonight was a good step in the right direction for our group. We didn't take our foot off the gas the whole third period. We just kept coming and kept coming. And it worked, you know? And that's something we can keep building on.”

Notes:

Nashville’s lineup remained unchanged on Thursday with Kieffer Bellows as the lone Predators healthy scratch.

Filip Forsberg scored his 300th career goal and became the ninth Swedish player to reach the milestone. Forsberg (742 GP), who will play for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off, reached the mark in the third fewest games of any Swedish skater behind Tomas Sandstrom (675 GP) and Mats Sundin (698 GP).

The Predators won their 88th shootout game and tied the Stars and Wild for the fifth most all-time. The only franchises with more are Islanders (92), Rangers (91), Sabres (91) and Penguins (90).

The Predators continue their homestand on Saturday night when the Minnesota Wild come to town before the San Jose Sharks visit Nashville on Tuesday.