Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson each had a goal and an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins kept their playoff hopes alive by beating the visiting Nashville Predators 4-2 on Monday.
Reilly Smith and Emil Bemstrom added goals, and Marcus Pettersson had two assists for the Penguins (38-31-12, 88 points), who are 8-1-3 in their past 12 games. They won despite having two goals nullified because of goaltender interference.
Pittsburgh goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, making his 12th straight start, made 28 saves.
Gustav Nyquist and Filip Forsberg scored goals, and Ryan McDonagh had two assists for the Predators (47-30-5, 99 points), who have finished the regular season and now await the playoffs.
Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros made 34 saves.
What appeared to be a power-play goal by Pittsburgh’s Michael Bunting at 6:23 of the first was disallowed after Nashville successfully challenged that Bunting was guilty of goaltender interference.
On the same Penguins power play, Crosby made it 1-0. From behind the net, he dished to Bunting in the left circle, then dove at the opposite post and banged in a rebound of Bunting’s shot at 7:02.
Karlsson pushed it to 2-0 at 13:50 of the first. With Drew O’Connor setting a screen, Karlsson’s shot from the right point tipped in off the stick of Predators defenseman Danta Fabbro.
It appeared that Kris Letang gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead with a power-play goal at 16:21 of the first, but again Nashville successfully challenged for goalie interference, this time with Lars Eller in front.
Nyquist made it 2-1 at 7:24 of the second when he slammed the puck in from a scramble in front.
The Penguins went up 3-1 when Smith scored 57 seconds later. From the right hash marks, he lifted a shot and found the far side of the goal.
At 17:36 of the second, Forsberg cut the deficit to 3-2. His shot from the right faceoff dot deflected high off Pettersson’s stick.
Bemstrom’s one-timer from the left dot off a pass from Karlsson at 2:42 of the third gave Pittsburgh a 4-2 edge.
–Field Level Media