Predators win in a shootout, 4-3

Although it took longer than the Predators would have liked, the result was worth the wait.

Martin Erat scored the only goal of the shootout to lead the Nashville to a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

The Predators have won three straight while the Flyers have lost two in a row.

Steve Sullivan, Erat, and Jerred Smithson scored for Nashville. Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne turned aside all three Flyers attempts in the shootout and finished with 42 saves.

“Even though they had a lot of quality chances, most of their shots I was able to see,” Rinne said. “We didn’t play our best game, but we were still fighting for every single puck.”

Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and Chris Pronger had the Flyers’ goals.

The Predators carried a two-goal lead into the final period, but goals by Gagne and Pronger 3:04 apart tied the game late in the third.

“We’ve got to play much better with the puck,” Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. “There are a lot of areas in our game that we can correct, but getting the two points in the shootout was huge.”

Carter opened the scoring at 1:21 of the first period with a wrist shot from the low slot that beat Rinne high to the glove side. It was Carter’s 33rd goal of the season. He had 11 shots on goal in the game.

The Predators are now 15-21-4 this season when their opponents score first.

Sullivan tied it just over 3 minutes later when he tapped in a puck just underneath the pad of Philadelphia goalie Michael Leighton.

Erat gave the Predators a 2-1 lead at 7:04 of the first. Dan Hamhuis kept the puck in at the blue line and passed to Jason Arnott on top of the left circle. Arnott sent a backhand pass to Erat, and he beat Leighton with a wrist shot over the glove for his 20th goal of the season.

Arnott has assists in his past three games and points in five of his last six.

“When they tied it up, we did not sit back on our heels,” Arnott said. “You can say it was an ugly win, but we will take the two points and that is all that matters.”

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Matt Field
Nashville.com Sports Editor