Predators Salvage Crucial Point in 3-2 Overtime Loss to Jets

The Nashville Predators picked up a point in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena.
Juuse Saros made 31 saves in goal for the Predators, who moved to 34-25-8 on the season.

THE STORY

Despite Winnipeg's 13-5 shot advantage in the first period, Nashville tallied one goal on just five shots to take the early lead over the Jets. Cody Glass crashed the net and tipped in a rebound to put the Preds up 1-0 just over five minutes into the first frame.

The Predators clung to their one-goal lead until 6:17 of the third period, when Nikolaj Ehlers fired a slapshot past Saros to tie the game at 1-1. The Preds responded less than a minute later, however, when Luke Evangelista received a cross-crease pass from Tommy Novak and dumped it in to give Nashville a 2-1 lead.

Winnipeg tied things up again at 10:15, when Adam Lowry chipped in his own rebound.
Neal Pionk redirected a pass from Pierre-Luc Dubois past Saros to end the game 55 seconds into overtime for the 3-2 final.
Preds captain Roman Josi did not return to the game after the first period. There was no immediate update on his status following the game.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Hometown Kid
Glass, a Winnipeg native, opened the scoring for Nashville against his hometown team. It was his second goal against the Jets this season after he tallied one in the Predators 2-1 win over Winnipeg at Bridgestone Arena on Jan. 24.
Young Guns
With his go-ahead goal in the third, Evangelista now has five points (3g-2a) in his first nine career NHL games. He scored his first two career NHL goals on March 6 at Vancouver.
Novak assisted on the goal and now has 30 points (13g-17a) in 36 games with Nashville since being recalled from Milwaukee (AHL) on Dec. 19. In a 15-game span since Feb. 18, Novak has posted 19 points (9g-10a).
Feisty Foote
Shortly after picking up his second point as a Pred with an assist on Glass' goal, Cal Foote dropped the gloves with Winnipeg's Brenden Dillon after the latter hit Luke Evangelista with a heavy hit. Foote racked up 17 penalty minutes, including a five-minute fighting major, a two-minute instigating minor and a 10-minute misconduct.

THEY SAID IT

Evangelista on falling in overtime to Winnipeg:
"To come that close and get a bad bounce at the end there, it's tough to swallow but at the end of the day that point is still really important to us. We played a lot of that game shorthanded, losing Josi back there. That was a big loss. But I really liked the way that we battled back and got that point there."
Glass on Nashville's efforts against Winnipeg:
"It's huge. Obviously you would like two, but you take what you can get. We are still three games ahead or whatever it is. We just need to string on a couple wins here and really just come together."
Coach Hynes on Nashville's efforts against Winnipeg:
"I was really proud of our guys. I thought it was a big-magnitude game. A lot of our guys were playing in their first game of that magnitude in the NHL. I thought our guys battled really hard and I'm proud of them. We played shorthanded quite a bit, obviously losing Josi early in the game and at times playing with four D. You come into this game and you've got to get points. You've got to get two or get one and we did that. And I thought when you look at the effort and the competitive level of the guys, it's a good sign. And I think the most important thing is what we had talked about when we had the changes to our team, this is where your young players can really grow because you're in games that matter and they mean something. Sometimes teams can get out of the race and you're just playing the game, but these are highly contested games. There's not a lot of time and space and you've got to be responsible with and without the puck; you've got to fight for your ice and I thought it was a real great effort by our guys [today]."
Evangelista on his gained experience with Nashville:
"I'm just kind of enjoying the moments. I'm still kind of on cloud nine here, just living out a dream playing in the NHL and stepping in right away and playing these big important games and making a push down the stretch here. It's been a really good experience for me to kind of get used to the League and see what high pressure stakes there are."
Glass on Nashville's young group:
"We're getting lots of opportunities and not a lot of players get this opportunity to play this many minutes and with this amount of guys, or older guys, I should say. They're really helping us kind of find our confidence and helping us with our play with the puck and we're young and we're having fun. It's a game so we're all very fortunate to be able to play in this game and you know, just playing in playoff-type games is awesome."

UP NEXT

The Predators will kick off a two-game road trip with a visit to the New York Rangers on Sunday. The puck drops at 6 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio.