Stars 3 - 2 Predators
Final - OT
  for this game

Stars slip past Predators 3-2 in OT

Feb 16, 2016 - 5:18 AM NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) The Dallas Stars extended the Nashville Predators' overtime woes.

Mattias Janmark scored at 3:49 of overtime to give the Stars a 3-2 win over the Predators on Monday night.

Cody Eakin and Ales Hemsky also scored for Dallas, which has won four straight.

In overtime, a bad change by Nashville led to an odd-man rush for the Stars.

Tyler Seguin's shot from the left side was stopped by Nashville goaltender Carter Hutton. Seguin then poked the rebound over to the right side, where Janmark had an easy tap-in for the winner.

''We got our transition game there,'' Janmark said. ''I think a couple of their guys on the bench fell, so we got a 3-on-1. I just tried to stick with it and Seguin made a good pass.''

Craig Smith and Filip Forsberg scored for Nashville. The Predators have lost three of four. Nashville is 1-9 in games decided in the 3-on-3 overtime format this season.

''That was a change,'' Nashville captain Shea Weber said. ''Filip came to the bench, and for whatever reason, no one was ready to go, so he tried to jump back in the rush, but he fell down and ended up in a 3-on-1.

''That's something that's easily fixable. We've been better, we've improved since, we've done some work on it, but still, those points make the difference.''

Smith opened the scoring at 11:32 of the first period after collecting the rebound of Mattias Ekholm's shot from the left side and beating Dallas goaltender Antti Niemi with a wrist shot on the stick side. The score broke a seven-game goalless stretch for Smith.

''It was good to see Craig get on the scoreboard and fighting for space in front of the net on the rebound and setting up plays,'' Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said.

Niemi finished with 24 saves.

Eakin tied the game at 1 at 5:42 of the second.

With Nashville on a power play, Jamie Benn sent a pass from the left side to Eakin at the right faceoff dot, where he beat Hutton with a one-timer.

With the assist, Benn extended his point-scoring streak to five games.

Hemsky made it 2-1 only 1:17 later when he out-battled Nashville defenseman Anthony Bitetto for a rolling puck in front of the net and then slipped it by Hutton for his seventh goal of the season.

''I think it's going pretty good lately,'' Hemsky said. ''We get a lot of chances. We still have to get better in some areas, but it's good right now.''

Forsberg evened the game at 2 at 16:18 of the second after Smith sent a pass from behind the Dallas net in front to Forsberg, where he scored his 19th of the season.

Making his second consecutive start, Hutton denied Benn from just outside the crease with 4:23 remaining in the third to keep the score tied. Hutton finished with 29 saves.

NOTES: Hemsky has points in three consecutive games. ... Dallas has eight short-handed goals this season... The Predators are 6-11-3 against Central Division teams this season.






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