COLUMBUS, Ohio – Sergei Kostitsyn's redirect with 12.1 seconds left forced overtime and Colin Wilson's one-timer 1:45 into the extra period gave the Nashville Predators a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
The Predators trailed by two goals until Patric Hornqvist scored with 1:36 left in the third period, setting up the final frantic minute.
Wilson converted on a 2-on-1 break, netting a nifty pass from Martin Erat, who had also set up Kostitsyn's tying goal.
Mike Fisher added a goal for the Predators, who had lost two in a row.
Jeff Carter, Antoine Vermette and Derek Dorsett scored for Columbus, which never trailed in regulation and seemed in control until the late stages.
But that all changed when the Predators drew to 3-2. Hornqvist took two tries to find the net on a rebound of a Shea Weber blast.
Weber then leveled Dorsett in open ice with 1:06 left at the same time the Blue Jackets' Samuel Pahlsson was called for a crosscheck. The Predators pulled goalie Pekka Rinne for an extra attacker, and turned up the heat. They controlled the puck the rest of the way.
Columbus goalie Curtis Sanford kicked aside a loose puck in the crease once. But after Nashville won a faceoff in the offensive zone late in regulation, Erat tossed the puck toward Kostitsyn in the high slot and he redirected it past Sanford to tie it and disappoint a crowd of 13,852.
In overtime, the Predators beat a defenseman back and had an unobstructed break. Erat waited until the defenseman committed before sliding the puck to Wilson for the winner.
Nashville recovered after twice trailing by two goals.
Dorsett had split two defenders to score, carrying speed through the center of the ice, to make it 3-1 early in the third period.
Columbus took a 2-0 lead midway through the second period. Jared Boll put a shot on Rinne from the short boards and Vermette was there to clean it up, deking Rinne and then slipping a backhander under his blocker.
Just over 2 minutes later, Nashville got on the board. Francis Bouillon's slap shot from the point was stopped by Sanford, but Kostitsyn was in the slot to chop the puck to Fisher, who was crashing the net and jammed it in for his sixth of the year.
The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead — and didn't even know it at the time.
With 7:18 left in the first period, Vinny Prospal set up behind the cage and tried a wraparound that was deflected to the stick of Carter, who was straddling the left goal line 15 feet from the net. He fired a hard shot that went behind Rinne and off the back crossbar inside the net.
But since the puck rocketed off the metal bar and out the other side instantly, play continued.
It wasn't until the next stoppage of play, about 30 seconds later, that NHL officials in Toronto looked at a video review of the play and reported it was a goal to referee Gord Dwyer on the ice.
A surprised Carter laughed as he was congratulated by his fellow Blue Jackets.
Notes: The home team had won 19 of 23 meetings going into this season, but the road team was victorious in both meetings this season. ... Nashville's Jordin Tootoo sat out the second of a two-game suspension for charging Buffalo G Ryan Miller. ... Columbus came in 4-1-0 when leading after a period and 6-2-0 when on top through two.
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