Jets 5, Predators 4 (OT)
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Right winger Blake Wheeler scored on a hard wrist shot just 51 seconds into overtime, lifting the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-4 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.
Jets left winger Andrew Ladd registered his third assist of the game on the play as Wheeler notched his 12th goal of the season.
Winnipeg (20-21-3) let a 4-1 lead slip away in the third period but put the game away in the extra period. The Jets snapped a three-game losing skid.
Nashville right winger James Neal scored the 200th goal of his NHL career late in the third period with Predators goalie Pekka Rinne on the bench for the extra attacker.
Winnipeg defenseman Dustin Byfuglien scored a pair of goals in the second period but left the game with an injury in the third. Just over six minutes into the final period, Byfuglien got pinned to the boards with Nashville center Cody Bass and fell awkwardly, leaving the ice holding his arm. He did not return.
Jets top-line center Bryan Little added his 15th goal, also coming in the second period, while rookie right winger Nikolaj Ehlers snapped in his eighth in the final frame to lift the hosts to a 4-1 lead.
With the Jets up 4-3, a parade of penalties in the game's final minutes created a three-on-three situation, and Nashville coach Peter Laviolette pulled Rinne with just over three minutes left and went with an extra attacker.
The Predators (19-17-8) are winless in five games.
Nashville left winger Kevin Fiala, called up Wednesday from the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League, scored his first-ever NHL goal less than a minute into the game.
Predators center Ryan Johansen scored on the power play midway through the third, his eighth goal of the season and second since coming over from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a trade last week, and left winger Eric Nystrom supplied his sixth to pull the visitors to within a goal with less than nine minutes left in the game.
Rinne has just one win in his last 12 starts on the road. He stopped 19 shots.
Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck registered his 10th career win with a 31-stop performance.
The game was the third straight at the MTS Centre for the Jets, who dash down to Saint Paul, Minn., to play the Wild on Friday night before returning home for five in a row.
The Predators head back to Music City for dates with the Wild on Saturday and the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.
Fiala ripped a rebound behind Hellebuyck just 59 seconds into the game to give the Predators an early 1-0 lead. The puck was in and out quickly, and play continued for about 12 seconds, but the replay was irrefutable proof of the milestone marker. Johansen took the initial shot, while Rinne was credited with the second assist of the season.
Fiala, a 19-year-old Swiss product who dressed for one game last season, was Nashville's first-round pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, going 11th overall. He had six goals and 15 assists in 34 games with Milwaukee before being summoned by the big club.
Down by a goal, the Jets refueled during the first intermission and came out flying in the second period. At 6:32, Byfuglien barged in from the point, fired a shot at Rinne and then whacked in the rebound to even the score.
Less than three minutes later, Little took a spectacular pass from Wheeler and hammered a slap shot by Rinne on the Jets' third power play chance of the game. Byfuglien handed the hosts a three-goal cushion with a tremendous individual effort, skating from his own side of center down the right boards and around the Nashville net before stuffing the puck in on the wraparound.
Ladd recorded his second assist of the game when he sent a long pass to Ehlers for a breakaway goal at 5:38 of the third.
However, Johansen made a pretty move to beat Hellebuyck on the power play at 9:01 and then Nystrom scored on a goal-mouth scramble at 11:53 to pull Nashville within a goal.
NOTES: The Predators dealt D Conor Allen to the Ottawa Senators for D Patrick Mullen in a swap of minor league blueliners Thursday. ... The Predators placed C Cody Hodgson on waivers Wednesday. He played 39 games with Nashville, producing just three goals and five assists. The team recalled C Cody Bass and 2014 first-round draft pick LW Kevin Fiala from the club's AHL affiliate in Milwaukee. Both players were dressed Thursday. ... The Jets sent D Paul Postma to AHL Manitoba earlier this week for a conditioning assignment. C Mark Scheifele (lower body) was placed on the injured reserve list Wednesday and the Jets called up RW Matt Halischuk from the Moose to fill the spot. ... Thursday's game was the 600th of Jets C Bryan Little's NHL career. ... Jets D Tyler Myers was slapped with a $5,000 fine by the NHL late Wednesday, punishment for his cross-check to the back of the neck of RW Tommy Wingels of San Jose in the Sharks 4-1 triumph over Winnipeg on Tuesday.