NASHVILLE — Matthew Tkachuk tied the game in the final minute of regulation and scored the winning goal with just over a second left in overtime on a nifty shot between his legs, leading the Calgary Flames to a 6-5 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
Calgary rallied from a three-goal deficit and ended Nashville’s four-game winning streak.
On the winner, Tkachuk skated in front of the net against two Nashville defenders, let the puck slip between his legs and flipped a shot that beat Predators goalie Pekka Rinne high to the stick side with 1.4 seconds left in overtime.
Derek Ryan, Rasmus Andersson, Elias Lindholm and Alan Quine also scored for the Flames. Calgary’s David Rittich made 31 saves.
Austin Watson scored twice, Calle Jarnrkok added two short-handed goals, and Nick Bonino scored for Nashville. Rinne made 21 saves.
Quine’s first goal tied it at 4 with 3:21 left in regulation before Watson put gave Nashville ahead 5-4 with a goal with 1:22 remaining.
Tkachuk’s scored off a rebound with 40 seconds remaining, tying the score at 5-all.
Lindholm scored his team-leading ninth goal from close range, narrowing the gap to 4-3 of the third period.
Nashville dominated the early action, taking the first 14 shots. Calgary didn’t take its first shot until about six minutes remained in the first period.
Bonino gave the Predators a 1-0 lead when he scored on a backhanded rebound at 5:33 of the first. It was his fourth straight goal for Nashville, including a hat trick in a 3-0 win over Chicago on Tuesday. He leads the Predators with seven goals.
Watson scored at 10:15 of the first to give Nashville a 2-0 lead. Colton Sissons and Matt Irwin picked up assists.
Watson had signed a three-year, $4.5 million contract extension earlier Thursday.
Ryan scored on the Flames’ second shot, a wrister from the bottom of the left faceoff circle, narrowing the deficit to 2-1 at 15:27 of the first.
Calgary nearly tied it when Johnny Gaudreau’s wrist shot bounced off the right post before Rinne smothered the rebound in the crease 18 minutes into the first.
The Flames missed another chance to tie with a shot that also hit the post early in the second.
Jarnkrok scored his first short-handed goal on a 2-on-1 breakaway after a Calgary turnover when he sent a wrist shot into the top side of the near post past Rittich, boosting Nashville’s lead to 3-1 at 4:36 of the second period.
Jarnkrok scored his second short-handed goal on another 2-on1 after a Flames turnover. He fired a wrist shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle past Rittich for a 4-1 lead at 18:52 on the second.
Notes
LW Filip Forsberg, one of the Predators’ top scorers, returned from a lower-body injury after missing the previous six games. … Nashville RW Rocco Grimaldi played in his 100h NHL game.
Up Next
Predators: Host New York Rangers on Saturday.
Flames: Visit Columbus on Saturday.
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The Associated Press