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Forsberg's OT goal gives Predators big win over Red Wings

Feb 25, 2007 - 6:30 AM NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- It took four games, but Peter Forsberg finally made his presence felt for the Nashville Predators.

Forsberg scored 2:11 into overtime and Paul Kariya added two goals and an assist as the Predators recorded an important 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, who wasted a three-goal effort by Tomas Holmstrom.

Acquired from Philadelphia on February 15, Forsberg was kept off the scoresheet in his first three games with Nashville. The former Hart Trophy winner broke through in this one, however, setting up Kariya's first tally late in the first period before netting the winner in the extra session.

As Kariya had the puck above the right faceoff circle, Forsberg headed to the net on the left side. Kariya backhanded a pass from the faceoff dot to the Swedish superstar, who redirected it past goaltender Chris Osgood for his 12th of the season.

"I'm pretty happy right now," Forsberg said. "It was an unbelievable pass by Paul. I just put my stick down. ... It was great to score my first goal here."

"Peter has been playing great for us," Kariya said. "It was nice for him to get a couple of points tonight. Obviously, the game-winner was huge."

David Legwand also scored, defensemen Kimmo Timonen and Marek Zidlicky each had two assists and Tomas Vokoun made 41 saves for Nashville, which forged a tie atop the Central Division standings with Detroit.

"This is the first game I've played without the splint," said Vokoun, who missed 20 games with a thumb injury earlier this season. "It's so much easier to play the puck. I'm glad it's over."

The teams meet four more times this season, including a home-and-home series that begins here on March 13.

"What I liked was that I thought the game was at a high level," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "I think we got two really good teams here and it's going to be a lot of fun the next little while. It's preparing them for the playoffs and it's preparing us for the playoffs. So those four games are important for both of us in our growth and development."

Holmstrom recorded his second hat trick of the season and third career and blue-liner Mathieu Schneider collected three assists for the Red Wings, who have notched at least one point in their last five games (3-0-2).

"It's a tough loss, for sure," said Holmstrom, whose team dropped a shootout decision to Edmonton on Friday. "And it's the second night in a row that we've ended up on the short end of the stick."

Kariya opened the scoring with 1:54 remaining in the first period, firing a hard wrist shot past Osgood from the left circle to snap a 10-game goalless drought. However, Holmstrom netted a pair of power-play tallies early in the second to put Detroit ahead.

With Predators defenseman Greg Zanon serving a holding penalty, Holmstrom flipped his own rebound over a fallen Vokoun from the top of the crease 38 seconds into the session to knot the game. Just 1:49 later, the Swede tipped Schneider's slap shot from the top of the slot past Vokoun during a 5-on-3 advantage for his third goal in two nights and a 2-1 edge.

Legwand drew Nashville even at 11:04, putting a backhander by Osgood while being hooked from behind by Robert Lang. But Holmstrom netted his 24th of the season with 5:08 left in the third during another power play to restore the lead for the Red Wings.

"Some nights, it seems that the pucks are just coming to you, and tonight was one of those nights," Holmstrom said.

"Getting my goal there late in the second to make it 2-2 going into the third was huge," Legwand said. "They struck again in the third, but we were able to bounce back and respond."

Detroit finished 3-for-7 with the extra skater.

"They have a really good power play and we took a couple of unnecessary penalties," Timonen said. "They proved they had a really good power play by scoring three. We have to learn from that."

"We realized that we were outplaying them 5-on-5. We just needed to stay out of the box," Kariya added. "We had trouble doing that all game, but the next time we play them, we just can't give them that many opportunities."

With losses in three of their previous four games, the Predators drew even with 64 seconds remaining as Kariya tipped defenseman Dan Hamhuis' slapper from the left point by Osgood's glove, completing just his second multi-goal effort of the campaign.