Elias Lindholm scored the overtime winner and Dillon Dube tallied twice as the Calgary Flames collected a franchise-record 25th road victory with a 5-4 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.
Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk tied the game with 0.1 seconds left in regulation.
The Predators (44-29-8, 95 points) could have clinched a playoff berth with a regulation win. However, they sealed a postseason spot less than an hour later when the Dallas Stars beat the Golden Knights 3-2 in a shootout, as Vegas can no longer catch Nashville.
Noah Hanifin had a goal and an assist while Dan Vladar made 19 saves for the Pacific Division champion Flames (50-20-10, 110 points), who are on a 10-1-1 overall run and a 7-0-1 road streak.
Filip Forsberg scored twice, Matt Duchene scored once in a three-point game and Roman Josi collected one goal and one assist for the Predators. Mikael Granlund contributed three assists.
Nashville starting goalie Juuse Saros left the game late in the third period favoring his left leg after stopping 30 shots. David Rittich stopped three of the five shots he faced while taking the loss.
The Predators hold the top Western Conference wild-card spot with two games remaining.
After his team’s late comeback, Lindholm completed a wild game with a top-corner wrist shot at 2:01 of the extra period, his 41st of the season. Rittich got a piece of the puck, but it trickled over the line. Rasmus Andersson and Johnny Gaudreau collected their second assists of the game on the winner.
With there being a distinct possibility the Predators and Flames will meet in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, tensions were high in an entertaining game.
Dube’s power-play goal on Calgary’s first shot opened the scoring at the 4:02 mark of the first period, a top-shelf offering, but the Predators replied with a pair of second-period goals.
Josi tied the game at 5:41 of the second with his 22nd goal of the season, and Duchene put the hosts ahead at 8:08 with his 42nd tally. Josi’s assist gave him 93 points, making him the eighth defenseman in NHL history to record at least 93 points in a season and the first since Phil Housley in 1992-93.
However, Dube lit the lamp again — his 18th of the season and eighth tally in seven outings — at 13:14 of the second period to even the count, which started a trend.
Forsberg scored 30 seconds into the third period, but Hanifin replied 93 seconds later with a seeing-eye point shot for his 10th goal of the season.
Forsberg’s second power-play goal of the period at 9:35 of the third period, his 42nd of the season, put the Predators ahead again a third time, but Tkachuk buried a puck just before the third-period horn for his 41st of the season to force overtime.
–Field Level Media
