CALGARY — Matt Duchene scored the overtime winner for the Nashville Predators in Tuesday’s 3-2 win that ended the Calgary Flames’ run of victories at six.
On a two-on-one rush following a stretch of extended pressure from the Flames, Mikael Granlund fed Duchene, who lifted a shot over Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom as he slid across at 1:37 of extra time.
Duchene had a goal and an assist and Predators starter Juuse Saros stopped 38 shots in the win.
Luke Kunin, with his first of the season, and Filip Forsberg also scored for Nashville (5-4-0). Granlund had two assists.
The Predators, winners of four straight, play their second of a four-game road trip Wednesday in Edmonton against the Oilers.
Matthew Tkachuk and Oliver Kylington scored for Calgary (6-1-2). The Flames fell to 1-0-1 in a five-game homestand that continues Thursday against the Dallas Stars.
Markstrom stopped 19 shots in the loss.
The host Flames trailed 2-1 after two periods despite a 28-14 edge in shots.
Calgary continued to press and drew even at 3:20 when Kylington jumped into the rush, took a pass from Chris Tanev, and wired a wrist shot off the crossbar and in behind Saros.
The sequence began with Andrew Mangiapane patiently maintaining the puck in the offensive zone while surrounded by Predators, which allowed his linemates to complete a change and eventually get the puck to Tanev.
All scoring until that point had come in a wide-open first period featuring several odd-man rushes by the Flames, who ran up a 20-9 edge in shots only to be repeatedly rebuffed by Saros.
In one stretch, the Predators surrendered three breakaways in a two-minute span with Blake Coleman, Dillon Dube, or Matthew Tkachuk all failing to convert and break what was then a 1-1 tie.
Shortly after that, the Predators regained the lead when Forsberg got the puck near the face-off dot and fired a perfect shot inside the far post on Markstrom.
The Flames entered the game 6-0-1 when they scored first, but it was Nashville opening the scoring Tuesday.
At 10:11 of the first period, Ryan Johansen beat Mikael Backlund on a faceoff, pulling the puck back to Alexandre Carrier at the blueline. Carrier’s rising wrist shot was redirected out of the air by Kunin for his first goal of the season.
It was the first time Calgary trailed had trailed in a game since the season-opener, but the Flames didn’t take long to tie it.
Monahan’s swipe at a rebound deflected off Roman Josi’s skate and bounced off Tkachuk and in at 11:49.
It was a power-play goal for the Flames, who entered the game with the NHL’s third-best man advantage.
Calgary finished the night 1-for-6 with the extra man while the Predators were 0-for-2.
Notes: Johnny Gaudreau’s seven-game scoring streak snapped … Monahan and Granlund each played in their 600th career NHL games … Nashville improves to 7-2-2 in their last 11 games at the Saddledome.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2021.
The Canadian Press