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Predators escape Columbus with OT win

Dec 9, 2011 - 3:48 AM Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - Colin Wilson scored the game-winning goal 1:45 into overtime as the Nashville Predators miraculously overcame a two-goal deficit in the final 96 seconds of regulation to steal a 4-3 win from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Patric Hornqvist and Sergei Kostitsyn netted goals for Nashville in the final 1:36 -- with Kostitsyn's goal coming with 13 seconds left -- to send the game into overtime.

"It was just one of those games and you're sitting there down 3-1 and playing a real good game. And we thought hey, just stay with it and the guys stayed with it," Nashville head coach Barry Trotz said.

Mike Fisher scored the other tally for the Predators, who got two assists each from Martin Erat and Ryan Suter.

Pekka Rinne stopped 21-of-24 shots in the win.

Jeff Carter, Antoine Vermette and Derek Dorsett lit the lamp for the Blue Jackets, who returned home after going 2-2 on their four-game road trip.

Curtis Sanford made 18 saves in defeat.

Hornqvist put home a rebound after Shea Weber put a one-time slap shot on net from the left point to make it a one-goal game.

The Predators were then awarded a power-play with 1:06 left when Samuel Pahlsson was called for cross-checking.

With Rinne on the bench, Nashville broke through on its two-man advantage when Kostitsyn re-directed Erat's wrister from the right point to tie the score.

"When it's 6-on-4 you know they're going to be teeing off and making their plays. We had some chances to clear pucks 200 feet and didn't do it," Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel said. "Once they tied it up we were pretty rattled after that."

On a 2-on-1 break in overtime, Erat raced down the left wing and fed Wilson, who buried the one-timer into the back of the net from the high slot for the win.

Carter gave the Blue Jackets the 1-0 lead, 12:42 into the first period. Vinny Prospal's attempted wraparound was initially stopped, but Carter pounced on the rebound and lifted the puck past Rinne.

Vermette made it 2-0 midway through the second period as he backhanded a rebound home after Jared Boll threw a shot on net from the left circle.

Fisher finally got the Predators on the board 2:21 later. Francis Bouillon slapped a shot on net from the left point, and Fisher put home the rebound.

Dorsett came flying down the middle of the ice and finished by snapping his shot into the lower-right corner from the high slot to up the margin to 3-1 early in the third period.

Game Notes

The home team had won 19-of-23 prior meetings in the all-time series coming into this season, but the road team has won each of the three games played between the squads this year...Nashville holds a 37-19-10 mark against Columbus in the series.