Ville Koivunen scored at 3:44 of overtime to complete a comeback as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Nashville Predators 3-2 at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday. Koivunen settled the game with an even-strength snap shot to cap Pittsburgh's late surge.
The Predators opened the scoring at 9:24 of the first period when Steven Stamkos scored his fifth goal of the season on a deflected shot, set up by Matthew Wood and Ryan O'Reilly. Pittsburgh answered just 18 seconds into the middle frame, as Connor Dewar scored his second goal of the year with a wrist shot off an assist from Elmer Soderblom. Nashville regained the advantage at 6:40 of the second period when Jayden Struble scored his first goal of the season on a snap shot, assisted by Nils Hoglander.
The Penguins forced extra time with a late attack in the final period of regulation. Rickard Rakell scored his second goal of the season on a snap shot with 1:06 remaining on the clock, set up by Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson. Koivunen then ended the contest in the extra session with assists from Hendrix Lapierre and Kris Letang.
Pittsburgh outshot Nashville 37-26 in the game. Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs stopped 24 shots to earn the victory, while Predators netminder Juuse Saros finished with 34 saves in the overtime loss. Both teams went scoreless on their single power-play opportunities, with each side taking only two penalty minutes.
The win gave Pittsburgh a two-game winning streak and improved its record to 5-6-1. The loss moved Nashville to 3-3-4 on the season, extending the Predators' winless streak to two games (0-1-1).
Nashville returns to the ice on Sunday to host the Colorado Avalanche. Pittsburgh continues its schedule on Thursday when the Penguins host the Utah Mammoth.
