Two goals from forward Michael McCarron helped propel the Nashville Predators to a 3-2 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. McCarron had never scored two goals in the same period and it was also his third career multi-goal effort.
Nashville saw forward Filip Forsberg score his ninth career overtime game-winner and did so 14 seconds into the five-minute period. It was his first career goal against the Penguins in regular season play. Forsberg’s only goal against the Penguins was back in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2017.
“I think there’s some maturity in our group,” head coach Andrew Brunette said. “It feels like every game we’re starting to grasp that better and you can hear the vocals. I thought after goals we’ve been much better as of late at understanding the importance of playing late in games… It was a real good growing experience in the third period but we have to play again on Thursday and who knows what happens.”
This is the longest winning streak for the team since Dec. 4, 2021, when they went on a seven-game heater for 13 days. John Hynes was the coach at the time and he’ll be back behind the bench Thursday for his second game after he was hired by the Minnesota Wild on Monday night.
Minnesota won 3-1 over St. Louis on Tuesday evening as Hynes made his debut. Nashville will need to defeat a familiar face to keep the streak alive which is currently tied for the fourth-longest winning streak in franchise history.
“Every time we play them it’s hard and physical,” Alexandre Carrier said of the Wild. “We know Hynes and what he brings to a team and it’s going to be a good challenge.”
Juuse Saros walking out of the tunnel ahead of playing the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Predators general manager Barry Trotz confirmed on Stillman & Company Monday night that Minnesota asked him for permission to interview Hynes. Nashville’s former coach had one more year remaining on his contract according to Cap Friendly.
Looking back this is also the first time since Oct. 30 that Nashville (11-10-0) has had a .500 record or better after starting the season 4-4-0. To Brunette, the learning curve was a stepping stone toward better results.
Before the current winning streak, Nashville lost four in a row being outscored 20-12 along with goaltender Juuse Saros having a 4.38 goals-against average at the time.
“No, not really I think we felt we beat ourselves in those couple of games,” Brunette said of the recent losing streak & turning it around. “We didn’t play very well on the road those last two games, those were the worst two at least in my opinion.
“We came back and thought if we could turn it on for one game we’d find the cure and fortunately the hockey gods don’t let you off the hook they make you go through the mud a little bit to find the appreciation of how hard it is to win. We have to keep building. It’s nice to be one over but we have a busy week here.”
Saros and Kevin Lankinen have a combined 2.35 GAA during the last six games and to top it off for the week ending Nov. 26 Nashville’s starter was named the NHL’s third star. Saros now has a 2.27 GAA during the streak with a .925 save percentage and a 4-0-0 record.
Forward Gustav Nyquist now has a nine-game point streak which is the second-best in his 14-year career. The last time he notched at least a point in seven straight games was in 2018 scoring one goal and seven assists.
During his active streak, he has two goals and 11 helpers and in that time has played each game alongside Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly.
Nyquist has the second-longest active streak among all players only behind defenseman Quinn Hughes’ 11-game streak scoring 17 points. He’ll face the team he was most recently part of in the NHL albeit it was for a combined total of nine contests before hitting free agency.
Stay tuned for all the action moving forward this season right here on 102.5 The Game.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of Nashville Predators
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