Ville Koivunen scores in OT as Penguins rally for win over Predators
PITTSBURGH — Ville Koivunen scored at 3:44 of overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied to beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 on Saturday night.
Koivunen beat Juuse Saros with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
Rickard Rakell scored the tying goal for Pittsburgh with 1:06 to play in regulation on a cross-ice pass from Sidney Crosby. It was Crosby’s 1,111th career assist, tying Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque for the most with one franchise.
Connor Dewar also scored for the Penguins, who have points in 10 straight and 23 of their last 27 games against Nashville dating to Oct. 21, 2010.
Arturs Silovs stopped 24 shots. The Penguins, who were playing without Evgeni Malkin (illness) and Egor Chinakhov (lower body), have won two straight following a four-game losing streak. Chinakhov has missed four of the last five games.
Steven Stamkos and Jayden Struble scored for Nashville. Stamkos is two goals from passing Dino Ciccarelli for 19th place in NHL history.
Saros made 34 saves for the Predators, who have lost two in a row and five of six. Nashville was blanked 6-0 at Boston on Thursday.
Struble put Nashville in front 2-1 at 6:40 of the second period when he beat Silovs from the right faceoff dot.
Jack Drury nearly scored at the end of the second to make it a 3-1 game. Drury dove at a loose puck and pushed it across the line, but time expired before it crossed.
That allowed Rakell and Koivunen to help the Penguins rally in the third period and overtime.
Penguins: Host the Utah Mammoth on Thursday.
