Preds Score Five in Third Period, Come Back to Beat Red Wings

A five-goal third period saw the Nashville Predators storm back to beat the Detroit Red Wings by a 6-3 final on Wednesday night at Little Caesars Arena. The result sees the Preds snap a three-game skid and gets them back in the win column to start a two-game trip.

After entering the final frame down 3-1, Nashville’s offense exploded. Michael Bunting tallied in the opening period, and then Nick Blankenburg, Roman Josi, Ryan O’Reilly, Erik Haula and Steven Stamkos all found the back of the net in the final 20 minutes to give the Preds a much needed victory and plenty to be thankful for.

“Just huge,” Blankenburg said of the win. “I mean, there's no quitting in this team, and I think we've seen that throughout this year. Just huge for us. We just said we just need one game to kind of get us going - and obviously feels good tonight.”

“It was huge,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said of the victory. “I think we've been in, I keep saying, feels like a million games like that, where we're having trouble getting that second goal to put the game away. We came in the third, down by one, and oddly enough, tonight we stuck with it. Nice to get rewarded. I think you tell this group time and time again, you're doing a lot of good things and sooner or later, you'll get rewarded. Tonight was one of the nights we got rewarded."

The Predators had a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes of play courtesy of Bunting’s 100th career goal - a power-play tally that came off a deflection of a Blakenburg shot - but the Red Wings potted two of their own on the man advantage in the second stanza to go up 2-1.

But before the third period was three minutes old, the Preds had regained the lead. First, Ryan O’Reilly found Blankenburg, and the defenseman deked his way to a beautiful backhand tally to tie the game. Then, just 15 seconds later, Josi got a second opportunity off a face-off and went top shelf to give Nashville a 3-2 advantage.

However, less than a minute after that, Detroit tied the game once more, but that was as close as they came. O’Reilly recorded what proved to be the game-winner when he tapped in a loose puck at the side of the net, and moments later, Filip Forsberg found Haula in the slot to put the Preds up by two.

Stamkos finished the night with an empty-netter to give the Preds their first five-goal period since 2019, also in Detroit, and Justus Annunen made several key saves in net - 28 in total - to earn his first victory of the season.

For Blankenburg, from the Detroit suburb of Washington, Michigan, the win had an added satisfaction with upwards of 50 to 100 guests in the crowd cheering him on - and by the end of the night, the Preds had likely gained a few new fans with their effort.

“I know my mom invited a lot of people,” Blankenburg said.

Now, Nashville will look for more of that against the Blackhawks on Friday with a chance to sweep their two-game Thanksgiving trip.

“We'll enjoy [this win tonight], but obviously we're looking forward to Chicago here in two days,” Blankenburg said. “We’ve got to play a similar game [like we did] tonight and continue to be consistent in that.”

Notes:

Nick Blankenburg and Roman Josi scored 15 seconds apart. It established the fastest two goals by defensemen in Predators history, besting the previous record of 23 seconds by Shea Weber and Kimmo Timonen on Dec. 2, 2006.

Ryan O’Reilly and Erik Haula scored 27 seconds apart for the Predators in the third period. Wednesday marks the third game in franchise history in which the club has scored a pair of goals 30 seconds apart or fewer on multiple occasions. The others: March 25, 2021 and Feb. 28, 2009.

The Preds switched up their forward lines on Wednesday and went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen against Detroit. Winger Tyson Jost and blueliner Justin Barron were scratched.

Nashville’s two-game trip concludes on Friday night in Chicago before hosting the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday evening at Bridgestone Arena.