Predators 3, Canucks 2 (SO)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Rallying from a two-goal, third-period deficit, the Nashville Predators beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 Thursday in a shootout.
Craig Smith scored the decisive goal in the fourth round of the shootout.
James Neal and Filip Forsberg scored for the Predators in the third period, with Forsberg tying the game at 13:08.
Nashville (38-23-13), which holds the Western Conference's first wild-card spot, moved within two points of Chicago, the Central Division's third-place team. The Blackhawks were idle.
Vancouver (27-33-13) ended its longest scoring drought in franchise history, but the Canucks lost their sixth straight game.
Bo Horvat and Daniel Sedin scored first-period goals for the Canucks, whose last win was over the Predators on March 12.
Horvat ended the drought at 234 minutes, 52 seconds when he poked home a rebound to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 6:52 of the opening period.
Vancouver, which began the night 12th in the Western Conference, was shut out in its previous three games. The Canucks scored their first goal since the first period of a 3-1 loss to Colorado on March 16.
Canucks goalie Ryan Miller made 30 saves and took the loss. His career record fell to 4-0-1 in Nashville.
Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne (31-19-10) made 23 saves and earned the win. Rinne is 11-1-2 in his past 14 games.
The Canucks increased their lead to 2-0 on Daniel Sedin's power-play goal at 14:39 of the first period.
Henrik Sedin fed his twin brother with a pass from behind the net, and Daniel Sedin snapped a shot from the low slot that beat Rinne high blocker side.
Predators captain Shea Weber was in the penalty box for hooking.
Nashville's penalty killers hadn't allowed a goal in 27 consecutive penalties before Sedin's 27th goal ended the streak.
The Predators hadn't allowed a power-play goal the previous eight games.
Vancouver was in an 0-for-26 skid on the power play before Sedin's goal. The Canucks hadn't scored on the man advantage in their previous eight games.
Neal narrowed the gap to 2-1 by scoring from the low slot at 11:56 of the third period for his 29th goal of the season.
Forsberg tied it at 2 with a wraparound backhander for his 31st goal of the season, bringing a roar from the crowd.
Nashville extended its home point streak to nine games (6-0-3).
The Predators improved to 14-2-4 against Canadian teams after winning two of three against Vancouver. All seven Canadian teams are likely to miss the playoffs.
NOTES: Nashville set a team record with its 31st sellout of the season as 17,113 filled the arena. ... Canucks RW Jannik Hansen, who has scored 19 goals, returned to the lineup after missing the past 11 games with a rib injury. He joined the first line with LW Daniel Sedin and C Henrik Sedin. ... Vancouver began a tough stretch against seven teams that appear to be playoff-bound. ... Predators LW Filip Forsberg, 21, is the NHL's youngest 30-goal scorer this season.