There could perhaps have been no manner more apt for the National Hockey League to mark the North American ice hockey league’s 18th regular-season game played in Sweden than by a Swede tallying a big goal in front of his home fans.

If that was the way the scriptwriters prepared the story, Filip Forsberg was on hand to make it come true on Friday night (14 November) at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm in the first of two games of the NHL Global Series Sweden 2025.

With his Nashville Predators having out-shot the Pittsburgh Penguins by more than 10 shots but trailing 1–0 late into the third period, Forsberg produced the moment the nearly 13,000 fans in attendance hoped for, sending a backhand into the roof of the net from in front of the crease.

That goal forced overtime, which the Predators ended after just 44 seconds for a 2–1 win.

“There was a lot of excitement, obviously, this whole day,” Forsberg said. “It’s been a little nervous, I’m not gonna lie. It’s been a big day, and obviously I couldn’t be happier that we were able to pull that one through and get a win.”

Forsberg’s goal cancelled out a second-period tally from the veteran Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin, whose fourth goal of the season came via an effort from behind the net which redirected off the stick of the Predators’ Michael McCarron, then went in off the back of goalie Juuse Saros’s helmet.

The Predators had had chances to tie it well before Saros was pulled for the extra attacker five seconds prior to Forsberg scoring. Luke Evangelista — as well as the Predators fans in the crowd — thought he had done so early in the third frame, but his snap shot hit the crossbar and rebounded out.

And it seemed that Nashville’s knack of not sticking with it would occur once more. Except it didn’t.

Forsberg even had another chance to win it in overtime on a breakaway, later joking that “that would have been too much”. It was another veteran, the 35-year-old Steven Stamkos, who would get the winning tally for the Preds in overtime.

Defenceman Brady Skjei sent a long outlet pass having collected the puck deep in his own zone, and Stamkos duly ended the extra three-on-three frame 44 seconds in.

“[The puck] sneaked behind Juuse a little bit so I just picked it up and I saw Stammer (Stamkos) with a ton of speed down the right wall,” Skjei said. “So just gave him the little outlet pass, and with his shot you can score from anywhere.”

The win snapped a five-game skid for Nashville, which had lost their last three in a row in regulation and the two before that in overtime. Heading into this game, the Predators were eighth and last in the Central Division. The result lifted them to seventh.

“It’s massive, obviously we’re in a position that we need wins,” Stamkos said. “We’ve decided to use this as something that can spark the season and I think you just see the reaction today: not only getting a big win, but playing a really solid game.”

For the Penguins, it is a result that leaves them without a win in three games, although they do take a point from the tie in regulation.

“There’s been games we’ve played pretty good and not gotten anything. When you have a lead going into the third and late into the game like that we’ve got to find ways to close it out,” captain Sidney Crosby said.