Predators blow a late lead, trail Chicago 3-2 in playoff series

It did not take long for Chicago forward Marian Hossa to make up for what could have been a monumental mistake.

Hossa scored the game-winning goal 4:07 into overtime, which was a mere 10 seconds after he finished serving a five-minute major penalty, as the Nashville Predators absorbed a devastating 5-4 defeat Sunday in their Western Conference quarterfinal series with the Blackhawks.

The Predators came from two goals down and led 4-3 after Martin Erat scored twice in the third period, the second with 8:21 to play. They not only failed to capitalize on Hossa’s boarding violation against Dan Hamhuis, they allowed the shorthanded Blackhawks to pull even on en empty-net goal with 14 seconds remaining in regulation.

The result is that they trail 3-2 in the best-of-seven series with Game 6 set for 8 p.m. Monday at Bridgestone Arena.

Nashville is now 0-3 in postseason overtime games and has lost one in three straight playoff series’.

The Predators managed five shots on net – two others were missed and two more were blocked – in overtime while Hossa was in the box. That was one more than they had in each the first and second periods. For the game they were outshot 32-21 and were 0-for-6 on the power play.

They have yet to convert in 21 opportunities with the man-advantage during the series and are the only Western Conference team without at least one power-play goal thus far in the postseason.

David Legwand gave Nashville a 1-0 lead when he scored 6:23 into the contest on his team’s second shot.

Chicago went ahead 2-1 before the end of the first period and extended its advantage to 3-1 when Tomas Kopecky scored with 3:36 left in the second period.

Joel Ward got the Predators back within a goal 1:07 later when he scored shorthanded. Erat then tied it 1:34 into the third period and a little more than 10 minutes later put his team back on top with his fourth goal of the series, which tied J.P. Dumont’s franchise record for goals in a single playoff.

Patrick Kane forced overtime when he hit the mark with a backhand shot from 14 feet.