NASHVILLE Adidas Mike Hoffman Jersey , Tenn. (AP) After giving up a late tying goal, Keith Kinkaid was determined to still win the game.Brian Boyle scored in the fifth round of the shootout to lift the New Jersey Devils to a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.Boyle beat Nashville goalie Juuse Saros with a quick wrist shot from the slot on the blocker side.”I was looking for a spot once I hit the blue line pretty much,” Boyle said. ”Once I found it, I wanted to be deceptive and try to keep the puck in the middle of my stance so I could go either way and try to use my reach to my advantage. I saw a little daylight on the blocker side and tried to make a quick move.”Kinkaid made 34 saves through overtime and denied four of Nashville’s five attempts in the shootout.New Jersey’s Taylor Hall and Nashville’s Kyle Turris each scored in the fourth round of the tiebreaker after none of the first six shooters could solve the opposing goalie.Sami Vatanen and Boyle had the goals in regulation for New Jersey, winners of two of three. The Devils moved past idle Columbus into the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.”I thought both teams played hard,” Devils coach John Hynes said. ”I thought their goaltender played really well, I thought our goaltender played really well. It was two teams that were going after the game. It was high-intensity, not a lot of time and space but I thought both teams really came to play.”Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Johansen had the goals for Nashville, which snapped its franchise-high 10-game winning streak. Saros finished with 25 saves.”We don’t ever talk about streaks really,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. ”We have a huge game coming up (against) Winnipeg. When we do come back to work, we’re probably only going to talk about that and getting ready for Winnipeg. That’s a big game. We’ll look at it to stretch out the division, and they’re going to look at to close the gap. Both teams are going to fight pretty hard for it.”With the Predators trailing 2-1 late, Johansen tied it with 1:06 remaining in the third when he put home the rebound of Ryan Ellis‘ shot from the right side.”I get in the mindset where I’m not losing this game if they tie it late like that,” Kinkaid said. ”I guess I can maybe do a better job of deflecting the puck Adidas Jonny Brodzinski Jersey , it was shot through a bunch of bodies. We got the win, that’s all that matters.”Ekholm scored the game’s first goal at 1:17 of the opening period.Carrying the puck on the right side, he cut to the left and beat Kinkaid with a wrist shot high to the short side. It was the Swedish defenseman’s 10th of the season, the first time he has reached double digits in his career.”If we play like we did in the second half of this game, I think there will be no issue with consistency,” Ekholm said. ”I think we could have been better in the first half. I thought we were a little soft and we didn’t play the way we can. But I really think we played up to our potential in the last half – it really showed what kind of team we are and what kind of damage we can do.”Vatanen tied it at 7:13 of the first with a slap shot from the right point through traffic that beat Saros on the stick side. Vatanen has four points in his last four games.New Jersey made it 2-1 at 11:24 of the second. Just one second after Nashville defenseman P.K. Subban’s slashing penalty expired, Boyle redirected Damon Severson’s slap shot from above the left circle past Saros for his 13th of the season. Boyle has a goal in two of his last three games.In overtime, Saros stopped a point-blank chance by Michael Grabner at 1:12.NOTES: Nashville D Roman Josi returned to the lineup after missing four games with an upper-body injury. … Prior to the game, Josi and Boyle, a cancer survivor, took part in a ceremonial faceoff as part of the NHL’s Hockey Fights Cancer initiative. … Devils D Will Butcher had one assist, extending his point-scoring streak to three games. … New Jersey is 25-0-2 when leading after two periods this season.UP NEXTDevils: At Vegas on Wednesday night.Predators: Host Winnipeg on Tuesday night. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Losing the Stanley Cup last June wasn’t what hurt Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg the most. Seeing how painful the loss was for veteran center Mike Fisher proved even more agonizing.”That was probably the worst feeling for me personally,” Forsberg said. ”Seeing the look on Fish’s face Adidas Peter Budaj Jersey , how close it was and obviously didn’t know then if he had another chance. And yeah, he’s definitely one of the guys that I would love to win for.”One final shot at the Stanley Cup that’s eluded Fisher throughout his 17-year career wasn’t the priority last August when the 37-year-old center announced his retirement . The Predators, who always wanted him back, persuaded him to return late in the season with some help from Fisher’s wife, country star Carrie Underwood.Fisher says the support means a lot to him.”It also means you’re getting old too,” Fisher quipped.”You don’t have too many chances. But part of this coming back too wasn’t just about me, it was about the guys too and you figure try to help a group and do it together,” Fisher said. ”That’s the thing about team sports and hockey is just having that fun together. There’s nothing like it. So it’s definitely more than just about me the old guy winning. It’s so much greater than that for sure.”Nashville wanted Fisher back for his skills on the ice and his experience.Fisher can play both ends of the ice and can win face-off battles in the defensive zone. He also has played 1,104 regular-season games in his career. In this postseason, only Toronto’s Patrick Marleau (182) and San Jose’s Joe Thornton (160) have played more postseason games than Fisher (140) without winning a Stanley Cup.The 6-foot-1 center now is in the playoffs with a Presidents’ Trophy winner. After finishing off Colorado in six games Sunday night, Nashville awaits a showdown with the Winnipeg Jets in the second round.Knowing the Predators had a great team was only part of why Fisher came out of retirement. Spending time with good friends added to the attraction.”You look at your career and playoffs are what you do and so much fun,” Fisher said. ”I’ve had the opportunity to have some pretty good runs. But you look back and those are really fun times that you enjoy and you remember with guys. And so it’s good memories.”Fisher helped the Predators win their first Western Conference title last spring to reach the franchise’s first Stanley Cup Final. Then they lost in six games to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Fisher didn’t make a decision on retirement until August.The Predators made sure to protect themselves while waiting.General manager David Poile signed Nick Bonino as a free agent away from Pittsburgh. In November, Poile acquired center Kyle Turris away from Ottawa as part of a three-team trade giving Nashville plenty of depth at the position.The Predators kept the door open to their former captain. They started talking more in December Adidas Matt Read Jersey , knowing the depth needed to play into June. Underwood also kept asking Fisher what he wanted to do. The husband and father who had focused on building a house and a hunting show finally said yes.A chance to win the Cup was too good to pass on, then again Underwood could have just decided to kick Fisher out of the house.”That might’ve been part of it,” Fisher said with a laugh. ”But yeah, definitely it’s good to be back. She’s a big fan. She’s going to be at all the games she can.”Fisher announced his return at a news conference Jan. 31 . He spent February working his way back into shape and signed a one-year, $1 million deal for the rest of the season Feb. 26 when NHL rosters expanded at the trade deadline. Fisher, who had 18 goals and 24 assists last season, scored in his first game back , a 4-3 win in Vancouver on March 2.Against Colorado, Fisher centered Nashville’s fourth line. He averaged 11 minutes, 16 seconds per game in the first round while winning 75.5 percent of his face-offs.Forsberg said Fisher looked like himself from his first game back and obviously is more comfortable with each game.”Really good guy to have around the team,” Forsberg said, ”and he’s been awesome.”—
