Wings fight to the finish, allow late goal in 1-0 loss to red-hot Preds

This one will hurt for the Red Wings.

They arguably played one of their best road games of the season Saturday in Nashville, but watched as Filip Forsberg scored late and gave the Predators a 1-0 victory.

Forsberg scored his 39th goal capping a Nashville scramble, beating goaltender Alex Lyon from the hashmarks at 14 minutes, 46 seconds of the third period.

"Kind of a weird one," Lyon said on Bally Sports Detroit. "It's bouncing all over the place and it's a good play by their guy (Forsberg) in an unusual spot and he swung it and made a good shot. We battled real hard all night. The defensive core played great. It was a good play by a dangerous player."

Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros stopped 23 shots as the Predators earned a point for the 17th consecutive game, winning 15 of those games (15-0-2).

The Wings remain in the second and final Eastern Conference wild-card spot, but it's getting closer. The Wings have 78 points, while Washington (77) and the New York Islanders (75) both have games in hand on the Wings.

BOX SCORE: Predators 1, Red Wings 0

Still, the Wings came out of this game believing if they can replicate this type of game in the future, the result could be different.

"You want to win every game but what you're looking for is playing the game the right way," Lyon said. "Bring your best and have a good effort and it felt like we had that."

The Wings went into a hostile environment against a hot team and played well enough to win.

"It was a real solid effort against a team that's been riding a very hot hand," said defenseman Moritz Seider, who called it a "real team game. We definitely made it hard on them. We had good chances and Alex played outstanding.

"It was a real close game."

The Wings had three power plays in the game and came out empty (Nashville was 0-for-1). In a tight game as this was, that proved to be a huge difference.

"They did a good job of defending the rush, made it hard on our entries," Seider said. "We got looks. They don't do anything special, we just have to have little more expectations for ourselves.

"We played a real solid 60 minutes. We deserved a little more tonight."

The Red Wings opened a five-game road trip, all against teams either in or just outside of the playoff picture.

Lyon started for the first time in six days and made 32 saves, including several key ones in the third period, but lost his eighth consecutive decision.

"The guys were great, (playing with) passion and emotion, blocking shots," Lyon said. "Guys were awesome. We were communicating real well and in the defensive zone and that's important for us. It makes the game simpler and cleaner for us."

The game featured the first fight in Seider's career.

More:Watch: Wings' Seider gets into first career fight vs. Predators' Forsberg

Seider squared off against Forsberg early in the second period, after the two got involved in a board battle. Neither player is known for his ability to throw punches, but both handled themselves well with Seider generally considered the winner by most social media observers.

"Just battling for the puck and got crosschecked and we got the best of our emotions," Seider said. "It was pretty enjoyable for everyone. It's a lot of emotion in that game."

tkulfan@detroitnews.com

@tkulfan