Tolvanen Tallies OT Winner as Preds Come Back to Beat Stars

The streak has reached a half dozen.
Eeli Tolvanen tallied the game-winner in overtime, as the Nashville Predators came back to beat the Dallas Stars, 3-2, on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds their sixth-straight victory and 39 points overall to keep them in the fourth spot in the Central Division.
Dallas carried a one-goal lead into the third period, but a rejuvenated effort from the Predators allowed them to collect at least one point before Tolvanen ended it with a beauty of a backhand in overtime for yet another tally in the win column.

"I really liked our third period, and I thought we got a really good push," Preds Captain Roman Josi said. "We got an early goal, which was huge, but even after that I thought we had a lot of chances and could have put the game away before OT. And just in general, it was a hard game. They're physical, they came out hard and it was a tough game. They were probably the better team for two periods, but we found a way, and I think that's huge for us. There's games like that, and if you find a way to win, it's huge."

"The thing I really liked about our group tonight was we just really stayed with it," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "We knew that we had to be a little bit better [in the third]. I thought Dallas was better probably for two periods, and there were certain aspects of our game that needed to improve, but I really liked the work ethic, the commitment, just the mental toughness to stay with it and dig in the third period… Even though we were down 2-1, we knew we needed to be better, and I think it's a big step for our group. We have the fact that [it was an intense] game and things don't always go your way all the time, but we stayed with it and guys got rewarded for it and found a way to win."

The game's opening 20 minutes went without a goal - although Preds goaltender Juuse Saros made 13 saves in the frame - but the Stars solved him in the second stanza when Jason Robertson tallied his seventh of the season. Nashville evened the score on the power play, when Josi blasted a one-timer past Anthon Khudobin, and Calle Jarnkrok assisted on the play to collect his 200th career point.
Dallas regained the lead just two minutes later when Roope Hintz converted on the man advantage, but the Predators were flying to start the third period, and just over four minutes in, Jarnkrok potted his 11th of the season to even the score at 2-2.

Jarnkrok almost ended it late in regulation time when he lofted a puck off the crossbar, but just 89 seconds into overtime, Tolvanen took a feed from Viktor Arvidsson and went top shelf for his first-career OT winner. The dagger was Tolvanen's second point of the evening, and by the time the night was done, he had points in six straight, just like his club's current streak.
"He's been unbelievable," Josi said of Tolvanen. "I mean, his shot is great, and I think the thing that impressed me the most is his work ethic. He's forechecking, he's hitting, and obviously the shot, everybody sees his goal scoring ability, but he's been really good and his work ethic has been really impressive."

"Pretty much right away," Tolvanen said when asked how quickly he knew which move he wanted to try in overtime. "I was coming on the left side, and I was in a shootout a week ago against the same goalie, so I just thought I'd maybe go the backhand and try to go bar down."
The play worked - just like a lot things have been for the Predators these days - and win No. 6 of the streak may just be the most impressive of them all considering Nashville had to up their game to find a way to prevail.
"If you really go back to the start of the long road trip that we had, we did have a couple of meetings and talked about, 'Why are we not committed to playing a certain way with our forecheck, our reloads, the play without the puck, the intensity level you need to play with?'" Hynes said. "And it was a commitment on that road trip to go through, and because of that commitment, we had success. Then, from success comes more buy-in and more commitment to doing what you need to do and how we need to win as a team. Every team has an identity, and it took us a little bit longer than maybe we would have liked to get to the identity that we want, but now we have it. What comes with that is pushback, not flinching, getting back to your game, understanding clearly what it is and believing in it. I think over the last three weeks we've gotten to that, and now we need to stay with it and continue to improve it."
The Preds will look to do that once more on Thursday when they host Dallas again and try for their seventh-straight victory, and they know what they'll be in for against the opposition, yet another test as they look to stay in that final playoff spot in the Central.
"Every time we play Dallas, they're a hard team to play against," Josi said. "It shows what our team can do in games like that, and it's definitely a huge win for us."

Notes:
Eeli Tolvanen extended his point streak to six games (3g-6a) with a goal and an assist on Tuesday.
Tolvanen is one game away from tying Filip Forsberg for the longest point streak by a rookie in Predators history. Tolvanen also became the eighth different Preds rookie to score a regular-season overtime goal and the first since Forsberg on March 24, 2015, versus Montreal.
With a goal on Tuesday, Preds Captain Roman Josi tied friend and countryman Mark Streit for the most all-time NHL points by a Swiss-born player with 434.
Nashville's three-game homestand continues on Thursday night (at 7 p.m. CT) when they face Dallas again before the Chicago Blackhawks come to town for a Saturday afternoon (at 2 p.m.) tilt at Bridgestone Arena.