Justus Annunen, making an unscheduled start after Juuse Saros suffered an upper-body injury during the morning skate, stopped 25 shots as the Nashville Predators defeated the visiting Seattle Kraken 3-1 Thursday night.

Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists and Ryan Ufko and Ryan O’Reilly also scored for Nashville (31-28-9, 71 points), which won its second straight game to pull even with the Kraken (31-28-9, 71 points) for third place in the chase for the Western Conference’s second and final wild-card playoff berth.

Freddy Gaudreau scored for Seattle, which lost its second straight. Joey Daccord stopped 24 of 26 shots as the Kraken opened a six-game trip.

The Predators opened the scoring at 6:14 of the first period as Ufko’s slap shot from the left point beat a screened Daccord. It was the rookie defenseman’s second career goal, with the first coming in a 4-2 victory March 10 in Seattle.

The Kraken tied it at 18:40 of the period as Kaapo Kakko carried the puck into the offensive zone along the right-wing boards and fed Chandler Stephenson in the high slot. Stephenson skated toward the left faceoff circle before spotting Gaudreau, who began his career with the Predators, alone at the right post for a tap-in.

Nashville regained the lead on the power play at 7:11 of the second. Steven Stamkos’ shot from the top of the left faceoff circle hit defenseman Ryan Lindgren in the leg and O’Reilly found the loose puck and jammed it past Daccord.

Forsberg clinched the victory with an empty-netter at 18:10 of the third, his 30th goal of the season.

Seattle’s Bobby McMann was kept off the scoresheet for the first time in four games since being acquired from Toronto at the March 6 trade deadline. McMann registered four goals and two assists over his three games.

–Field Level Media