NASHVILLE — Samuel Girard scored at 4:17 of overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied to defeat the Nashville Predators 3-2 at Bridgestone Arena on Friday.
Girard scored from the left face-off circle on a 2-on-1 after receiving a pass Evan Rodrigues for his first NHL overtime goal.
“We’ve been fighting, grinding out wins, low-scoring games,” Rodrigues said. “Even when we’re down, guys believe we can come back.”
Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist, and Alexander Georgiev made 37 saves for the Avalanche (19-11-2), who have won four in a row, including 1-0 in a shootout against the New York Islanders on Monday, and 2-1 in overtime against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
“It feels awesome,” said Georgiev, who made his fifth straight start. “Nothing came easy the last few games. Every win felt really special because it’s tie games every time. It’s overtime or one-goal game or shootout. Awesome job by the guys sticking with it and having the championship character.”
Video: COL@NSH: Rodrigues sets up Girard’s overtime winner
Matt Duchene scored for the fourth game in a row, and Jesus Saros made 43 saves for the Predators (14-13-5), who won their previous two games but are 2-4-3 in their past nine.
“I thought we started out pretty good,” the Nashville forward said Ryan Johansen said. “I liked our first period, and [we] just got away from it a little bit. Kind of made self-inflicted mistakes, gave them some momentum and some offense. Then we had a good push there later in the third. It’s a good hockey club over there. They’re a good team. It was a tough game. It was still good to at least get a point.”
JT Compher tied it 2-2 at 15:05 of the third period, deflecting a point shot by Arthur Lehkonen from above the crease.
“It would have been an easy night going into the break to probably pack it in, but it’s not what our group is all about,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “There’s a lot of excuses they could make, but they keep coming to work and finding ways to win hockey games. It’s been a great group effort, and I’m pretty proud of them to this point in the season.”
Video: COL@NSH: Compher redirects puck home to tie the game
Johansen gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 12:26 of the first period, knocking in a rebound on a power play.
It is the third straight game Nashville has scored a power-play goal following a six-game drought with the man-advantage.
“[The power play] has been pretty good,” Predators captain Roman Jose said. “Not just the goal, in general, we moved it pretty well. … I feel like we are getting more shots to the net. We saw on [Johansen’s] goal, get some rebounds and that’s huge.”
Duchene made it 2-0 at 6:22 of the second period, receiving a pass from Cody Glass at the left post before scoring top shelf.
Rantanen cut it to 2-1 at 12:46 later Logan O’Connor stripped Nashville defenseman Dante Fabbro of the puck and passed to Rantanen for the shot from the right circle. It was his team-high 23rd goal of the season.
NOTES: Avalanche forward Valery Nichushkin did not play in the third period after sustaining a lower-body injury, and forward Martin Kaut left early in the third with an undisclosed injury. Bednar did not have an update on either player following the game. … Duchene extended his point streak to five games (four goals, one assist) and has 12 points (11 goals, one assist) in 12 career games against the Avalanche, who selected him No. 3 in the 2009 NHL Draft. … Predators forward Thomas Novak had an assist to extend his point streak to three games (one goal, two assists) since being recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Dec. 19.
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