Johansson scores short-handed, Red Wings rally past Predators

NASHVILLE -- Albert Johansson scored the go-ahead goal while short-handed in the second period, and the Detroit Red Wings rallied for a 4-2 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Monday.

Detroit responded after losing goalie John Gibson, who missed the last two periods because of an upper-body injury. He allowed one goal on 11 shots, and Cam Talbot made 18 saves in relief.

“It’s never easy,” Talbot said. “I feel like 1 o’clock games are even tougher because there’s no skate, no nothing. You don’t get many shots in warmups. These games, you’ve just got to go in there and battle. That’s all you can do.”

Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond each had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings (35-20-6), and Mason Appleton and Marco Kasper each had two assists.

“We’ve done it all year,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “We’ve answered the bell when it hasn’t gone real well for us. Expected the group to put in a real good effort. That doesn’t always guarantee you a win, but everybody chipped in. We got some 5-on-5 scoring. That makes a big difference. Not an easy night for both goaltenders, obviously only playing a period for [Gibson] and then [Talbot] to come in and pinch-hit the way he did was impressive.”

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored for the Predators (27-25-8), and Juuse Saros made 27 saves.

“It’s tight right now,” Predators forward Luke Evangelista said. “The margins are tight. That’s another tight game, a playoff-type game. We’re going to see a lot of those types. We’ve just got to find a way to get two points.”

Emmitt Finnie gave Detroit a 1-0 lead at 4:51 of the first period on a rebound of a shot from Appleton that was deflected by Kasper.

“[Kasper] has been playing great,” Finnie said. “I thought our line was producing pretty well all night. Marco himself had a great game and made some great plays on both of those goals. Credit to him.”

Forsberg tied it 1-1 on a power play at 17:02 with a one-timer of Evangelista’s feed from the top of the right face-off circle.

“The first period was pretty good, I thought,” Nashville captain Roman Josi said. “Pretty back-and-forth game.  I thought in the second we kind of got away from our game a little bit. They dominated the second, had more looks, more chances. Especially off the rush, they’re very dangerous.”

Marchessault gave Nashville a 2-1 lead at 7:10 of the second period. He forced a turnover from Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson in the offensive zone and finished a chance in the crease after a pass from Ryan O'Reilly.

Raymond tied it 2-2 at 9:45 on a wrist shot after a cross-ice feed from DeBrincat on the rush.

Johansson put Detroit in front 3-2 at 16:36 on a short-handed 2-on-1 rush with Kasper after Moritz Seider was penalized for slashing.

“To me, the game was lost in the second period with losing those puck battles that ended up on that goal,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “We turned too many pucks over in those areas, and it got us. They’re a really good rush team, and we fed it. It was disappointing because the effort was there.”

It was Johansson’s second goal of the season, and first since Jan. 12.

DeBrincat scored an empty-net goal at 19:33 of the third period for the 4-2 final.

Talbot stopped all 13 shots he faced in the third. Gibson will be evaluated when the Red Wings return to Detroit.

“Well obviously he didn’t return after the first,” McLellan said. “Right at the end of the period he took a shot up high into the shoulder area, and it was kind of like a stinger, if you will. When you get those, you don’t get the feeling back right away. I think he’s OK now. He’s walking around, but we’ll have him looked at when we get home.”