Nashville, TN – Matt Cullen posted the winner in the final round of the shootout as Minnesota gained a 2-1 win over Nashville at Bridgestone Arena.
Cullen began the third round with a successful wrister after using several quick stick moves to fool Pekka Rinne, and the Wild escaped with a victory after David Legwand rang his backhander off the right post.
"We need all the points we can get right now and this extra one is big," said Cullen. "At the end of the season these shootout points will mean the difference between making or not making the playoffs."
Zach Parise scored and Niklas Backstrom made 24 saves for the Wild, winners in four of their last six games.
Legwand tallied in regulation for the Predators, who couldn't sustain momentum from a 6-0 win over Edmonton on Friday and lost for the fourth time in their last five.
Rinne ended with 28 stops in the setback.
"It was a good game today but we have to find ways to try and win these," said Rinne. "I was seeing the puck well, just let that one get by and that cost us."
Parise's deflection of a Ryan Suter shot during a power play opened the scoring with 9:01 played in the second period, but Legwand evened the game at 6:28 of the third by redirecting a Sergei Kostitsyn pass by Backstrom from the right wing.
Rinne was called for playing the puck behind his net and outside the trapezoid at 1:34 of overtime, and the hosts were given a reprieve inside of two minutes left when Devin Setoguchi's rocket from the left circle trickled off Rinne's glove and rolled off the far post.
Game Notes
Minnesota won two of three games in the season series, after Nashville took three of four in both 2010-11 and last season ... Suter returned to Nashville for the first time since signing a 13-year free agent contract with Minnesota back in July ... Preds forward Colin Wilson, who scored four points in Friday's win, left the game after the first period and did not return with an upper-body injury.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.