Josi Scores Overtime Winner as Preds Come Back to Beat Blackhawks

Mikael Granlund tied it, and Roman Josi ended it.
Granlund tallied his second goal in as many games, and the captain showed why he's the best defenseman in the world with his overtime winner as the Nashville Predators came back to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks by a 3-2 final on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena.
The result snaps Nashville's three-game skid and gives them a much-needed victory in the first half of the back-to-back set with the Hawks, plus two more crucial points in an already ridiculously-tight Central Division.
After a pair of losses in Dallas - by scores of 7-0 and 3-2 - the Predators were eager to find their way back into the win column as they returned home. Thanks to a consistent attack with 39 shots on goal, and solid netminding from Pekka Rinne, who made 18 saves of his own, Nashville did just that.

"Gutsy win, and it was big for us," Rinne said. "Obviously, a disappointing trip to Dallas… but a crucial win for sure. It's a back-to-back, huge points, every game is so important right now, and it's just the way we played tonight, I felt that it was a full 60 minutes and overtime. We continued pressing, we were attacking the game and doing a lot of the right things. I've got to give a lot of credit to the guys how they're sticking with it and they're just playing hard."

"It's big in the sense that we wanted to get back into the win column, and I liked the game," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "I just liked our sticktoitiveness throughout the game. We didn't veer off when we had some good moments and then capitalized on some good opportunities, and then Chicago had some good pushes too, but I felt like we stayed with what we felt we needed to do to win the game and got rewarded for it."

Dylan Strome gave Chicago a 1-0 lead, when he scored on the power play roughly three minutes into the contest, but after a 17-shot first period for Nashville, Preds forward Yakov Trenin tallied his first of the season and beat Blackhawks goaltender Malcom Subban at 4:47 of the second stanza to even the score at 1-1.

Chicago regained the lead before the middle frame was out, however, when Mattias Janmark converted on a breakaway to beat Rinne, but that was the last strike of the night for the visitors.

Granlund, who was arguably Nashville's best player on Tuesday, evened the score once more when he one-timed a feed from Nick Cousins into the twine at 11:06 of the third to force overtime. Then, in the extra session, Josi took over with a drive to the net and a deke around Subban to give the Preds the extra point with perhaps one of the prettier goals of his career.

"Granny made a good play down low, he dropped it to me and I saw that I had some space," Josi said. From there, I was thinking about just taking it to the net and making a move on the goalie, and luckily it went in."
Rinne had more than one reason to be content too - the goaltender collected his first win since Feb. 16, 2020, and while the veteran appreciated the effort in front of him, his teammates were more than happy to deliver.
"I'm not going to lie, it felt good to win a game," Rinne said. "It's been a while since I won a hockey game. So, it does feel good, but I've been feeling good. I had a good break, had a good training camp and was really looking forward to this season. And the schedule is really demanding, and [goaltender Juuse Saros] is looking great too, so hopefully there's games for both of us."
"Peks is such a big part of our team, and that first game he came in against Carolina [on Jan. 18], he played really well," Josi said. "We couldn't get the win for him, but tonight too, he played great. He's such an amazing teammate and he's done so much for this franchise, so I think every time he steps into the net, everybody wants to get a win for him. I'm glad we did."
Following a disappointing loss in Dallas, Josi stated the Predators knew the game won't always go their way, but sticking with the process does go a long way in helping to find success. That's part of the attitude Hynes wanted his group to embrace this season - eliminate the gap between the saying and the doing and execute on the ice.
Nashville did so on Tuesday, but they know things won't get any easier on Wednesday when the puck drops between the Preds and Hawks once more, but a victory in the first half of the back-to-back certainly won't hurt their confidence.
"We were just saying you've got to stick with it and just do the right things," Granlund said. "It's going to come, and we were rewarded tonight. I hope that shows for everybody, and you've just got to do the right things, stick with it and results are going to come."
"It's a huge lesson, and I think there's a lot we can take from this game," Josi said. "If [things aren't going your way], you're trying to make complicated plays, and then it's easy to get into that habit. But I thought we kept making simple ways, we kept pushing… so I think it's a great lesson for us to just stick with it."

Notes:
With an assist on Mikael Granlund's goal, Nick Cousins recorded his 100th career NHL point.
With Yakov Trenin and Mathieu Olivier recording their first points of the season tonight, Nashville now has 19 skaters who have at least one point on the campaign.
Rocco Grimaldi and Jarred Tinordi were scratched for Nashville on Tuesday night.
The Predators and Blackhawks are right back at it on Wednesday evening at Bridgestone Arena (6:30 p.m. CT; watch on NBCSN; listen on 102.5 The Game) before the Preds embark on a four-game trip to the Sunshine State, beginning Saturday night in Tampa Bay against the Lightning.