Josi, Predators recover in OT to hand Ducks third straight loss

NASHVILLE -- Roman Josi scored at 3:50 of overtime to give the Nashville Predators a 2-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.

Josi beat Ducks goalie John Gibson from the base of the face-off circle with a wrist shot on Matt Duchene's second assist of the game.
"I thought it was a great play," Predators coach John Hynes said. "Matt made a nice little bit of a fake, a little deception and obviously put it right on Josi's tape. That's the guy you want [with the puck] on his stick in that area of the ice. He didn't miss on that one. That was a great shot."

Juuse Saros made 34 saves for Nashville (10-9-2), which is 5-1-1 in its past seven games. The Predators have gone to overtime in three of their past four (2-0-1).
"We probably shouldn't have [gone to overtime] tonight," Duchene said. "They got some good goaltending. So did we obviously in the third, but we have to find ways to ramp it up a little bit and put them away earlier … But we got it done, so keep building."
Gibson made 39 saves, and Troy Terry scored for Anaheim (6-15-2), which has lost three straight and six of seven.
"It's hard because of the circumstances we find ourselves [in] with the standings and all of that," Terry said. "It makes it seem harder. At the end of the day, we came into a hard building to play in and played a really good road game.
"It's hard to not get frustrated. That starts with [me]. I've been feeling it, too, and I need to not let it show."

Colton Sissons gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 10:04 of the second period, driving hard to the net and redirecting Duchene's cross-ice pass under Gibson's pads. The line of Tanner Jeannot, Sissons and Duchene, which has been together for two full games, had a goal and three assists.
"It seems like there's pretty good chemistry, where you have guys that are working together as a three-man unit," Hynes said. "They're moving their feet. They're skating. They're able to, for the most part, make some good decisions with the puck."
Terry tied it 1-1 10:39 of the third, skating in from the blue line and beating Saros with a wrist shot from the slot that bounced off the goalie's glove. He has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) over his past 15 games.
"I thought I had better shots than the one I scored on tonight," Terry said. "[Saros is] a good goalie. Tonight, I found myself getting frustrated and then obviously one fell. Just continuing to shoot. That's something I didn't used to do, was shoot all the time even if I didn't think it was a super high-percentage chance."

Saros made one of his best saves at 7:15 of the second, when he stopped a 2-on-0 rush. Terry dropped a pass to Trevor Zegras at close range, but Saros made a right pad save on Zegras' shot.
"He's the best breakaway goalie I've ever seen, but I've never seen him get scored on 2-on-0, even in practice," Duchene said of Saros. "It's insane. His anticipation there was incredible. He reads the game well.
"He's so fast. When the guy made the pass back, I think I was more comfortable than when the guy had the breakaway by himself, just sitting on the bench and knowing he makes those saves all the time."
The game was the Predators' first since Nov. 23, following home postponements against the Colorado Avalanche (Nov. 25) and Columbus Blue Jackets (Nov. 26) because of a water-main break at the arena.
"It was awesome," Josi said of the atmosphere. "It was great to be back. I think we were all a little sad we couldn't play this weekend, a game after Thanksgiving … I'm sure the fans were glad to be back. It's always an amazing atmosphere here, so it was a lot of fun."
NOTES: Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler had an assist, and has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) over the past eight games … Anaheim defenseman Urho Vaakanainen made his season debut, returning from an upper-body injury he suffered on April 29. In 14:52 of ice time, he had one shot and two blocked shots … Josi has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in his previous 14 games … Predators forward Yakov Trenin returned to the lineup after missing the past four games with a lower-body injury. In 14:09 of ice time, he had five shots and four hits.