CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators traded goals late in the third period, but the Predators prevailed 3-2 on Tanner Jeannot’s overtime winner Friday at the United Center.
Colton Sissons’ goal gave the Predators a 2-1 lead with 8 minutes, 27 seconds left in the third. Filip Forsberg found a seam to Sissons, who fired to Marc-André Fleury’s glove side. Fleury made a diving play on the puck, but it dribbled underneath his pad.
But Hawks center Jonathan Toews evened the score with 6:05 left. Riley Stillman dished across the crease — one of the few times the Predators didn’t clog the front — and Toews snapped it past Juuse Saros’ open side for his third goal of the season.
With about three minutes left in regulation, Jeannot tripped Dominik Kubalik, but the Hawks couldn’t capitalize. They went 0-for-5 on the power play Friday.
In overtime, the Predators mounted a rush. Roman Josi threaded Alex DeBrincat’s legs, and Jeannot tapped in the game-winner.
Fleury made 28 saves and Saros 17.
It was a given that the Hawks would have wanted to avoid the Predator’s seventh-ranked power play that’s even better on the road (second) than at Bridgestone Arena.
But the first opportunity came midway through the first period, and Predators rookie Thomas Novak wristed his first NHL goal with Alexandre Carrier and Luke Kunin assisting.
Two minutes later, Kirby Dach put the Hawks on the board with his fifth goal of the season. Dominik Kubalik led a rush, and MacKenzie Entwistle dug the puck out from a scrum behind the net to set up Dach for a shot that ricocheted in off Saros’ right side.
Other than the early offense, the game was a slog. The Predators pressured the Hawks on both ends and seemed unafraid they would get burned.
“They play a hard game,” Hawks coach Derek King said before the game. “They’re a big team, they play a physical game.
“They’re going to be around our net a lot, they always have two guys in front, they come hard on the forecheck. We have to have our heads up, have to move our feet.”
In the second period, the Predators’ 71% Corsi-for percentage showed how much they dominated the puck, and they outshot the Hawks 15-6.
The Predators committed a penalty in the first and three in the second, yet the 24th-ranked penalty kill shut down all four Hawks power-play opportunities by aggressively challenging puck carriers.
Kurtis Gabriel made his Hawks debut and played right wing on the fourth line with Ryan Carpenter and Josiah Slavin.
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