Vegas Golden Knights at Nashville Predators

Preds keep thin playoff hopes alive, beating Vegas 3-2 in OT

These young Predators may not have been together in the NHL that long, yet they keep finding a way to keep this franchise's thin playoff hopes alive.

Cody Glass scored a power-play goal 3:30 into overtime, and the Predators rallied Tuesday night to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2.

“We have so many guys normally ... you have an opportunity to practice it, and it was really four new guys that hadn’t been on it,” Hynes said. “So it was just an opportunity just to kind of sit and talk about some certain plays.”

Jonathan Marchessault had been called for holding Philip Tomasino to put Nashville on the power play in overtime, and the Predators needed only 37 seconds before Glass scored his 14th with his shot deflecting off the skate of Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb past Vegas goalie Jonathan Quick.

“We’ll take that,” Glass said. “I was happy it went in. We stuck with it and got a win, so it was huge.”

Tommy Novak notched his third two-goal game this season and had an assist on the winning goal. He now has points in 46 games played this season for Nashville. Kevin Lankinen stopped 30 shots.

The Predators pulled within three points of the second wild card in the Western Conference currently held by Winnipeg with Calgary just ahead of Nashville. The Predators visit Winnipeg on Saturday night with five games remaining.

Alex Pietrangelo matched his career-high with two goals in the second for Vegas. The Golden Knights snapped a two-game winning streak after coming in with a three-point lead over the Los Angeles Kings atop both the Pacific Division and the West. Quick finished with 24 saves.

“Sometimes, it’s just not meant to be,” Pietrangelo said. “I thought we poured a lot in on the back-to-back, and we got in really late. You’ve got to be proud of the effort. We obviously wanted to win, but something to build off of here. I don’t think we can go home super disappointed.”

The Golden Knights had their own man advantage and chance to win in regulation when Lankinen was penalized for delay of game with 4:30 to go. The Nashville goalie stopped every shot to help kill the penalty.

“A late power play, again a chance to win the game, let us down again,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “That’s been a few games now where we’ve had an opportunity to win with that.”

Novak put Nashville up 2-0 within the first 13:08 of the game. He beat Quick with a backhand 6:50 into the game, then he scored again with a wrister from the edge of the left circle off a deflection on the power play.

Lankinen made a flurry of saves during 1:46 of a 5-on-3 late in the first period, including a stop on shot from Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague from the slot in the final seconds of the penalty kill.

Nashville nearly had a 3-0 lead with Egor Afanasyev getting his first career goal except for the goal being overturned for being kicked off defenseman Tyson Barrie's skate.

Pietrangelo got help for his 10th goal this season with the Kevin Gravel at 6:00 of the second. Then he notched his first two-goal game this season and eighth of his career shooting into the far net and tying it up at 13:39.

PRIDE NIGHT

Not only did all of the Predators wear their “ Pride Night” sweaters in warm-ups, they also had an introduction video welcoming fans.

Both Hynes and Barrie said the Predators had talked about the issue with no dissent on wearing the sweaters. Barrie said he has family and best friends in the LGBTQ+ community.

“There’s a little bit of frustration on my end with kind of what’s transpired this year with everything, and I think I know how hard it can be for people to come out and live their authentic lives,” Barrie said.

UP NEXT

Golden Knights: Host Los Angeles on Thursday night after the Kings have earned five points in three games over four nights in three different cities.

Predators: Host Carolina on Thursday night to wrap up a two-game homestand.

VGK wins series 2-1