All the Nashville Predators needed was 37 seconds in the final minute of their matchup against the Colorado Avalanche to win 4-3. Forwards Filip Forsberg and Yakov Trenin scored 16 seconds apart to bring down their Central Division rival.
“This was a big one for us,” Forsberg said. “We played well all game against a really good team on the other side. At the start of the third period, I thought we deserved to tie the game for sure, and then obviously it could not have happened in a better way than with that goal to win it. But I thought it was a really solid game.”
Forsberg now leads the team in goals and assists with nine and 12 respectfully.
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This is the best start to a full NHL season for Forsberg through his first 17 games at 21 points.
Despite being down 3-2 to the Avalanche the Predators never wavered from their identity to finish the job.
“We stuck with the game plan and they showed a lot of resilience down that stretch,” head coach Andrew Brunette said. “Could’ve would’ve should’ve missed a few chances and sometimes when that happens you shrug your shoulders a little bit, but I thought we kept going after them and staying on the puck and it was a lot of fun to see the group show some joy. I think if you looked at the bench and looked at the scrum after they scored, for a coach and as a player there’s no better feeling.”
As Nashville scored the final two goals of the game to complete the comeback they became just the 12th team in NHL history since 1931 to score a game-tying and game-winning goal in the final minute of a game.
On the flipside the Predators saw defenseman Jeremy Lauzon score his first goal of the season and first in 310 days to give Nashville a 2-1 lead 3:56 into the second period.
“We had a lot of O-zone time on that one. A lot of movement like we wanted up top,” forward Cole Smith said. “O’Reilly had a hell of a screen there so when the shot came in it was perfectly placed and went bar down.”
Lauzon logged 21:31 of ice time — his 3rd most as Predator — and was holding the Avalanche off as best as possible while also jumping up on offense.
“I thought he competed really hard, I thought he was a hard player to play against. I’m sure they would say that on the other side,” Brunette said of Lauzon. “I thought he was in your face and physical. When Jeremy is on top of his game he does an unbelievable job. I thought he and Carrier did well against some of the best players in the league.”
Lauzon and Alexandre Carrier combined for three blocked shots as the duo continued playing together since Ryan McDonagh has been out for the last seven games.
Cole Smith contributed an assist on the final goal of the night after he drove into the offensive zone on the forecheck. After Avalanche defender Cale Makar turned the puck over the rest became history.
“We knew we needed to be on top of them and we worked hard to tie it up,” Smith said. “Trenin made a really good play off the wall and we were able to fly in there on the forecheck. There was a bit of turnover where the puck popped out and Pärssinen took a swing at it and I tried to hit it and it went into [Erik Johnson’s] chest. Trenin crashed in hard and got the game-winner.”
Undoubtedly this win injected confidence into the Predators after they suffered back-to-back losses at home and are now 3-6-0 in their last nine games. Joy was the emotion Smith said he felt after he got off the ice against the Avalanche.
“I don’t know if it’s as much as a relief as much as it is building more confidence,” Smith said. “We left points out there so to be able to come back and get a win against a really good team like that is really huge. I think games like this can be momentum shifters, if we use this the right way we can go on a little run here and make up for some of the games we left out there.”
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