Leading by two late in the third period on Thursday night, the Nashville Predators nearly let the game get away. Colton Sissons made sure that did not happen.
After the Predators allowed a pair of goals in the final 4 minutes, 5 seconds of regulation, Sissons scored 3 minutes, 5 seconds into overtime to give them a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
“It was a little bit scary at the end there,” Sissons said. “I thought we played a great game. I’m not sure the score was indicative of the play. I really liked our effort tonight, really all 60 minutes, so it’s stuff we can build off of.”
Ryan Hartman, Nick Bonino and Calle Jarnkrok also scored and Pekka Rinne made 19 saves for the Predators, winners of two straight.
Jay Beagle, Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat scored for the Canucks, who had won three in a row.
Vancouver tied it with 43.5 seconds remaining in the third when Horvat, parked at the far post, slipped one past Rinne. The Canucks were shorthanded at the time and had pulled goalie Anders Nilsson for an extra skater.
In overtime, Bonino sent a pass from the left boards to Sissons skating through the slot and he elevated a shot over Nilsson.
Hartman scored the game’s first goal at 5 minutes, 52 seconds of the opening period.
With the Canucks changing lines, Predators defenseman Dan Hamhuis sent a long pass from inside the Nashville zone to Hartman at the red line.
Skating in on the right side, Hartman used Vancouver defenseman Ben Hutton as a screen and beat Nilsson on the glove side with a wrist shot from above the right circle.
Nashville are still without injured first-line forwards Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson. In their absence, Hartman has been given top-line minutes with Ryan Johansen and Kevin Fiala.
Bonino made it 2-0 at 8 minutes, 40 seconds of the first with a wrist shot from the left face-off dot that beat Nilsson high to the far side.
Beagle halved the Nashville lead at 15 minutes, 15 seconds of the first.
With the Predators on a power play, Markus Granlund intercepted a pass from Mattias Ekholm in the neutral zone.
Granlund carried the puck into the Nashville zone on the left side. Inside the circle, he sent a pass to Beagle in the slot, where he made a quick forehand-to-backhand move and beat Rinne on the stick side.
Nashville regained their two-goal lead at 11 minutes, 5 seconds of the second when Jarnkrok tipped Kyle Turris’ shot past Nilsson, who finished with 30 saves.
Boeser made it 3-2 at 15 minutes, 55 seconds of the third with a power-play goal.
Rookie sensation Elias Pettersson got the secondary assist on Boeser’s goal, extending his point streak to five games (three goals, eight assists)
In Thursday’s other games, the Columbus Blue Jackets overpowered the Los Angeles Kings 4-1, the Buffalo Sabres beat the Arizona Coyotes 3-1 and the Tampa Bay Lightning crushed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1.
The Winnipeg Jets edged the Edmonton Oilers 5-4, the San Jose Sharks edged the Dallas Stars 3-2, the Montreal Canadiens outlasted the Carolina Hurricanes 6-4 and the Minnesota Wild crushed the Florida Panthers 5-1.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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