Nashville Predators at New Jersey Devils

O'Reilly's shootout goal lifts Predators past the Devils 3-2

Roman Josi and Luke Evangelista scored for the Predators, and Filip Forsberg and O’Reilly each had two assists.

Jack Hughes and Chris Tierney scored for the Devils in regulation.

The win moved Nashville into the first wild-card spot from the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights.

O'Reilly's winner came against Jake Allen, his former teammate with the St. Louis Blues. He skated down the right side, stopped in front of the net, then fired a wrist shot over Allen's shoulder.

“It’s kind of weird, obviously, for the amount of time I played with him,” said O'Reilly. “He kind of knows my normal moves so I kind of thought I’d do something a little different on him and just try to see what I could get and lucky for me it got past him.”

Evangelista's power-play goal with 7:15 left in the third period tied it at 2-2. He scored from low in the left circle.

“I love his poise,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said of 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 recorded a franchise-best 112 points last season, are currently on the outside of a wild-card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference with just four games remaining.

New Jersey is five points behind the Detroit Red Wings for the second wild card berth from the Eastern Conference.

Tierney's fourth goal of the season gave New Jersey a 2-1 lead on a feed from Tomas Nosek at 2:11 of the second period.

Allen stopped 29 shots for the Devils. He entered Kaapo Kahkonen left the game with an undisclosed injury after Josi scored on a slap shot that tied it at 1-all 8:39 into the first period. He left the ice with the trainer's help after stopping four shots.

Kahkonen returned to the Devils' bench at the start of the second period. New Jersey interim coach Travis Green said he has a lower-body injury and will be evaluated on Monday.

Juuse Saros had 23 saves for Nashville and stopped all three of New Jersey's shootout attempts.

Hughes gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead just 1:49 into the game with his 27th goal of the season with an assist from his brother Luke Hughes. With the assist, Luke Hughes set the Devils record for most points (45) by a rookie defenseman in a season.

“I’m not surprised,” said Green. "He’s a bright young player in the league. He’s getting better and better and not just offensively.”

New Jersey center Curtis Lazar is out with an upper-body injury. According to Green, he could miss the remainder of the season. He sustained the injury in the second period of Saturday's game at Ottawa.

UP NEXT

Predators: Host Winnipeg on Tuesday.

Devils: Host Toronto on Tuesday.

Series tied 1-1