Duchene’s overtime goal sends Predators past Flames 3-2
Nov 2, 2021, 9:43 AM | Updated: 11:18 pm
Nashville Predators' Matt Duchene celebrates his overtime goal against the Calgary Flames in an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Calgary, Alberta. Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Matt Duchene scored at 1:37 of overtime, giving the Nashville Predators a 3-2 win over Calgary on Tuesday night and snapping the Flames six-game win streak.
“Probably top-five most tired I’ve ever been during a shift,” Duchene said. “I was a bit of a tripod in the d-zone there.”
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.
Duchene had been thinking of heading to the bench when teammate Mattias Ekholm fell.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, I’ll hang in it’ and (Granlund) put a great pass on my stick and I was just able to get a shot off,” Duchene said.
Duchene had a goal and an assist and Predators starter Juuse Saros stopped 38 shots in the win.
Luke Kunin scored his first of the season and Filip Forsberg added a goal for Nashville (5-4-0), which has won four straight. Granlund had two assists.
“We got unbelievable goaltending,” Granlund said. “We were not even close to our best tonight.”
Matthew Tkachuk and Oliver Kylington scored for Calgary (6-1-2). The Flames fell to 1-0-1 in a five-game homestand.
Markstrom stopped 19 shots in the loss.
The 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 sent 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, allowing his linemates to complete a change and eventually get the puck to Tanev.
The first period was wide open and featured several odd-man rushes by the Flames, who ran up a 20-9 edge in shots.
In one stretch, the Predators surrendered three breakaways in a two-minute span with Blake Coleman, Dillon Dube, or Matthew Tkachuk failing to convert and break what was then a 1-1 tie.
Shortly after, the Predators regained the lead when Forsberg got the puck near the dot and fired a shot inside the far post, past 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. 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 for a power-play goal at 11:49.
“I was never worried that we weren’t going to get that game to overtime. I actually thought the way it was going, we were going to win it in regulation,” said Tkachuk. “But anything can happen three on three and they got the extra point.”
Calgary has points in eight straight games after dropping its season-opener to Edmonton.
“It’s still a step for us. It’s a battle-back point. You come from behind in the third, it’s still a good point,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “In the past, this team wouldn’t have got a point.”
Notes: Johnny Gaudreau’s seven-game scoring streak snapped. … Monahan and Granlund played in their 600th career NHL games . … Nashville improves to 7-2-2 in their last 11 games at the Saddledome.
UP NEXT
Predators: At Edmonton on Wednesday night to continue a six-game trip.
Flames: Host Dallas on Thursday night in the middle game of a five-game homestand.
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