WINNIPEG — Mikael Granlund scored 1:11 into overtime to lift the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Granlund’s blast went high past goalie Connor Hellebuyck and gave the Predators their third win in the last four games.
Nick Bonino also scored for Nashville (25-20-7), which is 4-2-0 in its past six games.
Juuse Saros made 33 saves for the Predators, who were beginning a four-game road trip.
Mason Appleton scored for the Jets (28-23-5), who have one win in their past eight games (1-6-1).
Hellebuyck stopped 34 shots for Winnipeg, which ended a three-game homestand going 1-1-1.
Both goalies made some tough saves for their teams, who are fighting for a wild card in the NHL Western Conference.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period and stayed the same after the second.
Shortly after a shot by Jets centre Mark Scheifele hit the crossbar, Appleton scored his third goal of the season by backhanding the puck between the pads of Saros at 2:46.
Nashville tied it up with 2:21 left in the first after a Winnipeg turnover in its own end.
Bonino took a pass from Rocco Grimaldi and sent the puck low past Hellebuyck with a one-timer from the left faceoff circle for his 16th goal of the season.
Predators forward Filip Forsberg hit the post during a second-period power play.
Jets sniper Patrik Laine got a penalty shot after being slashed by Nashville’s Jarred Tinordi, but his backhand shot was turned aside by Saros’s blocker with 11:18 left in the middle frame.
Winnipeg also had its second power play of the game, but none of the three shots thrown at Saros made it past the netminder.
The Jets were ahead 25-22 on shots on goal after two periods.
Saros stopped a blast by Laine midway through the third and then moved across the crease to deny an Ehlers’ chance. On the other side of the ice, Hellebuyck grabbed a puck in the crease and pulled it in to himself.
The Jets had a power play with eight minutes remaining, but a Laine shot hit the top of Saros’s stick.
Saros faced a line of Jets barrelling down on him in the last minute, but he stopped a shot by Blake Wheeler.
Shots on goal were even 34-34 after regulation.
Winnipeg plays in St. Louis on Thursday. Nashville visits Calgary the same night to take on the Flames.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2020.
Judy Owen, The Canadian Press
