Ryan O’Reilly’s shootout goal secured a 3-2 victory for the Nashville Predators against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night.
Roman Josi and Luke Evangelista found the back of the net for the Predators, with Filip Forsberg and O’Reilly each contributing two assists.
Jack Hughes and Chris Tierney scored for the Devils during regulation play.
This win catapulted Nashville into the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights.
O’Reilly clinched the win with a wrist shot over former teammate Jake Allen’s shoulder during the shootout.
“It’s kind of weird, obviously, for how long I played with him,” O’Reilly said. “He kind of knows my normal moves, so I thought I’d do something a little different, and luckily, it got past him.”
Evangelista tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play goal from the left circle with 7:15 remaining in the third period.
“I love his poise,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said about Evangelista. “He’s got a little moxie to his game. He sees the ice as good as anybody, and he’s very creative with the puck.”
The Devils, who set a franchise record with 112 points last season, are outside the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference with only four games left. They trail the Detroit Red Wings by five points for the second wild-card spot.
Tierney’s fourth goal of the season gave New Jersey a 2-1 lead at 2:11 of the second period, assisted by Tomas Nosek.
Allen made 29 saves for the Devils after replacing starter Kaapo Kahkonen, who left the game with an undisclosed injury following Josi’s slap shot that tied the game 1-1 at 8:39 of the first period. Kahkonen stopped four shots before exiting with the trainer’s help. He returned to the bench at the start of the second period, and interim coach Travis Green said Kahkonen has a lower-body injury and will be evaluated on Monday.
Juuse Saros made 23 saves for Nashville and successfully stopped all three of New Jersey’s shootout attempts.
Jack Hughes gave New Jersey an early lead just 1:49 into the game with his 27th goal of the season, assisted by his brother Luke Hughes. With this assist, Luke Hughes set a Devils record for most points (45) by a rookie defenseman in a season.
“I’m not surprised,” Green said. “He’s a bright young player in the league. He’s getting better and better, not just offensively.”
New Jersey center Curtis Lazar is out with an upper-body injury. He may miss the remainder of the season after sustaining the injury in the second period of Saturday’s game at Ottawa.
UP NEXT:
- Predators: Host Winnipeg on Tuesday.
- Devils: Host Toronto on Tuesday.
