NHL - Central - October 20-21, 2015

Tuesday, October 20
Tampa Bay Lightning @ Nashville 4-5 SO
Filip Forsberg's shootout goal gave the Predators a 5-4 win against the Lightning at Bridgestone Arena. James Neal scored two goals, and Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne denied all three Tampa Bay shooters in the tiebreaker after he made 25 saves through overtime. Neal tied the game 4-4 at 14:30 of the third period, one-timing a pass from Forsberg past Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop. It was his fifth goal of the season, all coming in the past three games. Forsberg had an assist on each of Neal's goals and has six points in his past five games. Erik Condra gave the Lightning a 4-3 lead at 5:24 of the third, one-timing a pass from Brian Boyle past Rinne for his second goal. Rinne made six saves after Condra's goal in the third period and overtime, then made saves against Ryan Callahan, Jonathan Drouin and Nikita Kucherov in the shootout to help the Predators win their second straight. Mike Fisher scored with 52.3 seconds remaining in the first period to give the Predators the game's first lead. Defenseman Shea Weber passed the puck toward the net on the rush, and Fisher battled through traffic and pushed the puck past Bishop for his first goal.
The teams combined for five goals in the second period. The Lightning tied the game at 3:25 on a Steven Stamkos one-timer from a sharp angle on the power play. It was Stamkos' fifth goal. Kucherov gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 8:51. Rinne made the save on Kucherov's shot from the slot, but the puck went off the skate of Predators forward Paul Gaustad on the rebound and into the net for Kucherov's second goal. Weber tied the game at 10:29 on a one-timer from the point, sending Mike Ribeiro's pass by Bishop for his first goal. Callahan gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead at 17:41 on a slap shot from the point. Callahan took the pass from defenseman Victor Hedman and shot it through traffic past Rinne for his third goal. Hedman, who also had an assist on the Stamkos goal, returned to the lineup after missing one game because of a concussion. Neal tied the game 3-3 with 1:05 left in the second on a one-timer that beat Bishop, who made 29 saves.
James Neal: "That was a great pass. I thought he did a great job of hunting the puck down before the pass. He was in a race with the [defenseman], wins a big battle, and then passes one over to me. It was a great play. [Fisher] brings everything. He's great in our own end, and he works so hard. He's physical in the offensive zone. He gets to loose pucks. Overall, I think from Day One everyone just had to work harder, and it's paying off. When you're getting the bounces and you're scoring goals, you want the puck. You're in the zone. You're feeling it. I think when you're in that zone and you're feeling good, you want the puck at all times and you feel like everything is going to go in when you shoot it. I don't know how you can keep that around all year, but I'll definitely try to."
Filip Forsberg: "It's just the way [Neal] is working. He's using his body down low. He's a big guy that can really protect the puck and a really good skater, too. Obviously, with the goal sense, he's got a really good shot. I just try to find him as much as I can. Today, I gave him the puck twice, and he put it in the back of the net twice."
Pekka Rinne: "Really big two points. It was up and down throughout the game. It was a fun game to play. A little bit frustrating as a goalie, I don't want to give up four every night, but it was fun."
Shea Weber: "It showed good character. We knew it was going to be a tough game tonight. That's a very good team that's capable of doing a lot of things, and I'm proud of the guys in here. Everybody showed up and put in a good effort."

Wednesday, October 21
Carolina Hurricanes @ Colorado 1-0
It took overtime, but the Hurricanes finally found a way to defeat the Avalanche in a road game when Victor Rask scored at 1:49 for a 1-0 win at Pepsi Center.
Rask burst past Gabriel Landeskog in the Avalanche zone, cut in and slid a backhand shot past goalie Semyon Varlamov, who made 18 saves. The goal came after Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward stopped Jarome Iginla on a clean breakaway 25 seconds into overtime. Ward finished with 26 saves for his first shutout of the season and 23rd of his NHL career. The Avalanche had won 10 consecutive games against the Hurricanes at home, nine at Pepsi Center, and were unbeaten in previous 12 games in Denver, including two ties. Colorado's last home loss against Carolina franchise was a 3-2 defeat on Feb. 9, 1996, at McNichols Sports Arena when the Hurricanes were known as the Hartford Whalers. Ward held his ground against Iginla, who took a breakout pass from Matt Duchene and cruised into the Hurricanes' end under a head of steam. Ward also made a spectacular stop against Duchene with 3:42 remaining in the third period, raising his stick to knock away the puck with his paddle. Both teams had plenty of power-play opportunities but couldn't convert. The Hurricanes had six shots on five power plays and are 2-for-26 this season. The Avalanche had five shots on four power plays. Hurricanes defenseman John-Michael Liles left the ice with a towel over his face at 14:41 of the second period after he was hit by Iginla's skate in a collision in the corner. He returned in the third period and said after the game that he was fine. Duchene has one goal in the first six games.
Matt Duchene: "I'm [upset] right now, absolutely, extremely frustrated that I wasn't able to finish that one off [Ward's stick save]. I'm trying to find a way to blame myself, and it's tough because it's an amazing save. I tried to roof it. In hindsight I could have just slid it in, but you're never going to do that because the goalie has an easier time making that save."
Jarome Iginla: "Those are the chances [his breakaway] you'd love to have back and they come back right after that and score. But I thought even before that in the last 5 to 10 minutes we had a good push and some really good chances. Both goalies were outstanding tonight. We felt like we let [Varlamov] down. We couldn't find him one goal. It's tough when you get a breakaway in OT and you don't get it."