To complete a comeback, Ryan McDonagh buried the game-winner for the Nashville Predators as they defeated the Arizona Coyotes 5-4 in overtime on Feb. 10.
McDonagh, Filip Forsberg, Tommy Novak, Roman Josi and Ryan O’Reilly all scored for Nashville (27-23-2) who snapped a three-game losing streak. Juuse Saros made 27 saves in the victory.
Dylan Guenther, Travis Dermott, Juuso Välimäki and Nick Schmaltz had Arizona’s (23-23-4) goals. The Coyotes have now fell five consecutive games.
Fighting his way in front of the Coyotes’ crease, O’Reilly received a pass from behind the net by Forsberg and ripped a shot off the post. Looking behind him, the puck hit off of Ingram’s back before it rolled over the goal line as the Predators took a 1-0 lead with 7:32 left in the first period. Because of his helper, Forsberg recorded his 300th career assist.
Looking for an answer, Arizona got one 42 seconds later.
Evading multiple checks, Jason Zucker found Dermott at the point who fired a blast for his second goal of the season, evening up the contest 1-1.
What. A. Rollercoaster.
After it was free-flowing hockey flying through in the first period, the second was infested with the referees blowing their whistles repeatedly for penalties.
In a little over a five minute span, there were six penalties and four were towards the Coyotes. There were seven infractions in the middle frame overall.
Because of the penalty boxes being filled up, both teams capitalized with an extra man.
On a 4-on-3 advantage, Josi wound up for a one-timer to reclaim the lead for Nashville, 2-1 with 8:21 remaining in the second period.
Set up by Keller, Guenther tied the game once more 2-2 with a snapshot beating Saros on a 5-on-4 power play with 1:29 on the clock.
The intensity cranked up another notch with even more high-octane offense and physicality.
From the Predators blue line, Välimäki sent a wrist shot towards the net and a Nashville defender redirected the puck past Saros and in.
Arizona went onto yet another power play up one before Schmaltz scored top shelf to extend the margin to 4-2 1:45 into the third period.
From there on out however, a switch was flipped by Nashville to control the momentum.
Tommy Novak got the Predators within one by sniping over Ingram’s glove at 6:00. Ingram stopped 32 shots in the loss.
To eventually tie the game 4-4, Forsberg tapped in a rebound after Ingram saved an original shot by O’Reilly.
The Predators were not done there as they hit the post twice before the buzzer, pouring the pressure on the ‘Yotes.
Nashville ended up getting the dagger courtesy of McDonagh just 1:36 into overtime, claiming a 5-4 victory and two points towards the standings.
Next Games
Coyotes: Away at Philadelphia Flyers (28-19-6) on Feb. 12 at 5 p.m. MST
Predators: Home vs. New Jersey Devils (25-21-4) on Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. MST
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