Pekka Rinne thought he was in big trouble when he lost his goalie stick during a wild scramble on an Edmonton power play in overtime.
Instead, the wayward stick made the save of the game in the Nashville Predators’ 3-2 shootout victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night.
Shawn Horcoff beat Rinne with a diving backhander, but the puck struck the unattended stick at the goal line and deflected away. A video review confirmed the puck didn’t fully cross the line.
“That was a huge lucky break,” Rinne said. “I dropped my stick and I had no clue where it was and luckily it was on the goal-line and that saved the game for us.”
Predators coach Barry Trotz agreed his team was fortunate.
“You’ve got to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good,” Trotz said. “That’s part of the game. It’s like the referee being in the way or what have you. We’ll take it.”
Cody Franson scored the lone shootout goal and Rinne made 22 saves in regulation and overtime and stopped all three Edmonton shooters in the tiebreaker. The Predators, fourth in the Western Conference with 60 points, have won three straight — all on the road — and 10 of their last 12.