Filip Forsberg Carries Predators Past Panthers In 3-2 Win
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SUNRISE (CBSMiami/AP) – Filip Forsberg was a one-man show stopper on the ice Sunday. Not only did he tie the game on a power play, he scored the shootout winner in the Nashville Predators' 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.
Forsberg poked the puck past Roberto Luongo in the fifth round of the shootout.
Forsberg leads NHL rookies with 48 points, including his team-leading 18 goals.
"Filip was terrific. He's been that way all year," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "He's put up a lot of points and played a lot of big minutes and put in big situations like he was tonight and he delivered."
Matt Cullen and Craig Smith also scored shootout goals for Nashville. Brad Boyes and Nick Bjugstad connected for the Panthers.
Seth Jones pulled Nashville to 2-1 on a power play at 4:44 of the third.
Carter Hutton stopped 34 shots to help the Predators win for the fourth time in five games. They are 7-1-1 in their past nine games against the Panthers.
Aaron Ekblad and Tomas Fleischmann had second-period goals for Florida. Luongo made 23 saves.
"My timing was off in the shootout," Luongo said. "I was committing too early on moves. It wasn't a very good performance there."
Trailing 2-0, the Predators scored two power-play goals on just four shots in the third. The Predators may have been tired after a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers in Nashville on Saturday but made the most of their chances.
"The back-to-backs are tough," Laviolette said. "We played last night, we had to travel. I'm proud of the guys for the effort they put in. They played hard tonight. You had to stay in there and keep fighting for it at the end, and they did that."
Forsberg tied it with a shot from the right circle and the puck went over Luongo's shoulder and into the net.
"We were shooting a lot of pucks for the first two periods and couldn't get a goal," Forsberg said. "In the third period, we kind of saved them a little bit and took the chances we got. It was good."
Jones started the comeback with a hard shot from the blue line.
"We give them two power plays and they capitalize on both of them," Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said. "I thought overall we played a real good game against a real good team. To come out of there with only one point leading 2-0 and giving up goals like that is disappointing."
Fleischmann opened the scoring at 8:37 of the second. He picked up the puck off an errant pass by Nashville'sMatt Cullen in the left circle and beat Hutton with a wrist shot to the glove side.
Ekblad scored with 5:33 left in the second. Jimmy Hayes brought the puck out from behind the net and missed a wraparound attempt. Ekblad poked in the rebound for his eighth goal and 30th point of the season. Ekblad leads NHL rookie defensemen in points.
"(This) may be a point that got away. We definitely had a lot of opportunities," Ekblad said.
Notes: Jones has points in four straight games. ... Predators forward Colin Wilson missed the game because of an upper-body injury. ... Panthers forward Sean Bergenheim was scratched for the third straight game D Willie Mitchell missed his second straight game because of an upper-body injury.
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