NEWARK, N.J. — Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene scored in a shootout, and the Nashville Predators gave coach John Hynes a win against his former team with a wild 6-5 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
Forsberg scored two goals in regulation and Pekka Rinne made saves on Jack Hughes and Kyle Palmieri on the Devils’ final two shootout attempts as the Predators won their second game in two nights.
Mattias Ekholm, Nick Bonino and Duchene also scored for the Predators. Rinne had 27 saves for Nashville, which is 7-0-3 in its last 10 games against New Jersey.
Pavel Zacha scored twice and Nikita Gusev, Jesper Bratt and John Hayden once for the Devils. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 25 shots, including seven in overtime.
Hynes was fired by the Devils on Dec. 3 after going 9-13-4 in the opening months of his fifth season in New Jersey. He led the team to the playoffs once. He was hired by the Predators this month and the team is 5-4 since he took over.
The goaltenders didn’t get much help from their teammates and were also unlucky. At least four goals went into the net after being either tipped or deflected by a defending player.
The Predators took a 2-1 lead after the first period as Ekholm and Forsberg sandwiched goals around a short-handed tally by Zacha.
Power-play goals by Zacha and Gusev helped New Jersey take a 4-3 lead after 40 minutes.
Nashville twice tied the game in the third period with Duchene and Forsberg scoring around a rare goal from Hayden.
NOTES
Zacha entered with three goals in 45 games. The three-point night was his second of the season. … Forsberg leads the Predators with 18 goals.
UP NEXT
Predators: Return home to face Vegas on Saturday night
Devils: Stay home and host Dallas on Saturday. There will be a ceremony before the game marking the 20th anniversary of New Jersey’s second Stanley Cup championship team. The Devils beat the defending champion Stars in six games in 2000.
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Tom Canavan, The Associated Press