Jarnkrok's OT goal lifts Predators past Canucks
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Calle Jarnkrok's shorthanded goal at 4:58 of overtime Tuesday night lifted the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at Bridgestone Arena.
With Mattias Ekholm off for holding at 3:20, Nashville (18-16-7) got a 2-on-0 with Roman Josi carrying the puck down the ice. Josi fed Jarnkrok at the right post and he made no mistake, beating Ryan Miller for his sixth goal of the season.
Pekka Rinne (15-11-6) made 29 saves for the win, while Miller (12-10-2) stopped 24 shots but saw his five-game winning streak end.
It was the second straight loss for Vancouver (20-19-4), which fell to 5-13-2 on the road.
Vancouver forced overtime when Brandon Sutter squeezed a wrister from the right faceoff circle through the legs of Rinne at 19:11 with its net emptied for a sixth attacker. It was Sutter's 11th goal of the season.
Nashville thought it had won the game 20 seconds into overtime on Roman Josi's wrister from the left faceoff circle, but referee Evgeny Romasko waved it off after Viktor Arvidsson made incidental contact with Ryan Miller in the crease.
Nashville initiated the scoring 35 seconds into the second period. Austin Watson pounced on the rebound of an errant wrister from the blue line by Mike Fisher that caromed to him at the right post and he shoveled it by a diving Miller for his third goal.
Neither team created a lot of scoring chances, but each missed golden opportunities to tally in the first period. The Predators appeared to score just over three minutes into the game, but Filip Forsberg's tally was waved off because he played the puck with a high stick.
Just past the halfway mark, Sutter uncorked a wrister that beat Rinne but not the goal post. Later in the period, the Predators generated a rush that ended with Fisher alone in front of Miller in the slot. His wrister over Miller's glove side struck the post.
NOTES: Vancouver D Chris Tanev (upper-body injury), who was hit by a slapper Friday night against Calgary and sat out a rematch in Calgary on Saturday night, returned to the lineup, enabling the Canucks to ice six defensemen. ... Nashville LW Viktor Arvidsson (upper-body injury) returned to the lineup Tuesday night after a two-game absence. He was injured at Tampa Bay on Thursday night. ... Vancouver scratched RW Anton Rodin, C Reid Boucher and D Andrey Pedan. ... Predators scratches were C Frederick Gaudreau and C Colin Wilson (lower-body injury).