In the brief, electric span of overtime, Filip Forsberg reminded us that sport distills life's longest struggles into a single, irreversible moment. On a Saturday night in Nashville, a back-and-forth contest between two teams navigating very different seasons ended 11.1 seconds into the extra period — the Predators finding their footing while the Canadiens continue searching for theirs. It was a game of answers and counter-answers, of effort that nearly went unrewarded, resolved at last by a cross-ice pass and a sliding puck.
Forsberg's OT heroics lift Predators past Canadiens 4-3
Forsberg's moment came with 11.1 seconds left
Mark
So Forsberg wins it in overtime—but this wasn't just a goalie duel, was it? There was a lot of scoring.
Mimi
Right. Both teams kept answering each other. Tolvanen scored first, then Suzuki tied it, Dvorak went ahead, Jeannot tied it again, Kulak put Montreal up, and Kunin tied it once more. It was back and forth the whole way.
Luke
How many shots did Allen face? Forty? That's a lot of work for one night.
Mimi
Exactly. He made 40 saves and still lost. That's the kind of game where you play well and it doesn't matter.
Mark
What was significant about Tolvanen's goal?
Mimi
He hadn't scored in 22 games. His last goal was opening night in October. So breaking that drought early in the game was important for him personally, even if the team didn't end up needing it to win.
Luke
And Kunin—he got a Gordie Howe hat trick on his birthday?
Mimi
Yes. Goal, assist, and a fighting major. It was his 24th birthday. That's the kind of night that sticks with you.
Mark
What about the goaltender interference challenge Nashville threw?
Luke
They challenged Dvorak's goal, said he hit Carrier who then hit Saros. But video review let it stand. So Montreal kept the 2-1 lead at that point.
Mimi
It was close, but the officials saw it differently than Nashville did.
Mark
Where do both teams go from here?
Mimi
Nashville's heading to Detroit on Tuesday to start a four-game road trip. Montreal hosts Tampa Bay the same night. Both teams need to find some rhythm.
Il Polso
- The game swung back and forth four times across three periods, neither team able to hold a lead for long before the other answered.
- Montreal's challenge of a critical goal was denied by video review, a decision that kept the Canadiens ahead and deepened Nashville's urgency.
- Luke Kunin's third-period Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, an assist, and a fight all in one game — gave Nashville the emotional lift it needed to force overtime.
- Jake Allen stood tall with 40 saves, turning aside chance after chance, but could not hold back the tide when Forsberg received Granlund's pass and ended it.
- Nashville claims its second win in three games while Montreal absorbs its fifth loss in six, the gap between their trajectories widening with each result.
In the brief, electric span of overtime, Filip Forsberg reminded us that sport distills life's longest struggles into a single, irreversible moment. On a Saturday night in Nashville, a back-and-forth contest between two teams navigating very different seasons ended 11.1 seconds into the extra period — the Predators finding their footing while the Canadiens continue searching for theirs. It was a game of answers and counter-answers, of effort that nearly went unrewarded, resolved at last by a cross-ice pass and a sliding puck.
Filip Forsberg settled it 11.1 seconds into overtime, taking a cross-ice feed from Mikael Granlund and sliding the puck past Jake Allen to give Nashville a 4-3 win over Montreal on Saturday night. For the Predators, it was a second victory in three games. For the Canadiens, a fifth loss in six.
The game opened with Eeli Tolvanen deflecting a point shot from Mattias Ekholm past Allen — Tolvanen's first goal in 22 games, dating back to Nashville's season opener in October. Montreal responded in the second period when Nick Suzuki snapped a power-play wrist shot past Juuse Saros, then Christian Dvorak put the Canadiens ahead on a rebound. Nashville challenged the Dvorak goal on goaltender interference, but video review let it stand. Tanner Jeannot redirected another Ekholm shot to tie it again at 2-2, giving Ekholm his first multi-point game of the season.
Early in the third, Brett Kulak found space on a trailing play and put Montreal back in front 3-2. Then came Luke Kunin's moment: on his 24th birthday, he scored to tie the game, added to his earlier assist, and fought Kulak — completing a Gordie Howe hat trick. The game went to overtime knotted at three, and held there until Forsberg's decisive strike.
Allen finished with 40 saves in a performance that deserved better. Saros stopped 20 for Nashville. The Canadiens return home Tuesday to face Tampa Bay, while the Predators open a four-game road trip in Detroit the same night.
Filip Forsberg ended it with 11.1 seconds left in overtime, taking a cross-ice pass from Mikael Granlund and sliding the puck past Jake Allen to give Nashville a 4-3 victory over Montreal on Saturday night. It was the kind of finish that erases everything that came before it—the back-and-forth scoring, the near-misses, the feeling that either team might break through. For the Predators, it was their second win in three games. For Montreal, it was their fifth loss in six.
The game had been a series of answers. Eeli Tolvanen opened the scoring early in the first period when Mattias Ekholm's one-timer from the left point deflected off Tolvanen's stick and past Allen. It was Tolvanen's first goal in 22 games, a drought that stretched back to Nashville's season opener on October 14 against Seattle. The goal mattered for him—as a rookie the previous season, he had scored 11 times in 40 games, six of them on the power play—but Saturday it was simply the first punch in a fight that would go the distance.
Montreal answered quickly in the second period. Nick Suzuki, playing his first game with a goal in ten tries, snapped a wrist shot from the high slot during a power play that beat Juuse Saros on the stick side just under the crossbar to tie it 1-1. Minutes later, Christian Dvorak put Montreal ahead 2-1 on a rebound from just outside the crease. Nashville challenged, arguing goaltender interference when Dvorak made contact with defenseman Alexandre Carrier, who then collided with Saros. Video review sided with Montreal. The goal stood.
Tanner Jeannot redirected Ekholm's shot past Allen at 17:24 of the second to tie it again at 2-2. Ekholm, who had already assisted on Tolvanen's goal, was in the middle of his first multi-point game of the season. Early in the third, Brett Kulak found space on the right side after Cole Caufield carried the puck into Nashville's zone and found him trailing the play. Kulak's wrist shot to the glove side put Montreal up 3-2.
Luke Kunin tied it again at 10:12 of the third. It was his 24th birthday, and he was having the kind of game that gets remembered in locker rooms—he had picked up a secondary assist on Tolvanen's first-period goal, scored to even the game, and fought Brett Kulak early in the period, completing what hockey calls a Gordie Howe hat trick. The game went to overtime tied 3-3, and it stayed that way for nearly the full five minutes until Forsberg's moment came.
Jake Allen made 40 saves for Montreal, a performance that in most games would have been enough. Saros stopped 20 for Nashville. The Canadiens, who have now lost five of their last six, will host Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Nashville, riding momentum from the win, opens a four-game road trip in Detroit the same night.
Citazioni salienti
Tolvanen had not scored since Nashville's opening game of the season, Oct. 14 against the Seattle Kraken— Game summary
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