NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Filip Forsberg couldn't quite make history Saturday, but he still did more than enough to help the Nashville Predators earn two big points in their playoff push.

Forsberg, scoring his seventh goal in three games and adding two assists, paced Nashville to a 5-2 victory over the Washington Capitals at sold-out Bridgestone Arena.

After notching hat tricks Tuesday night and Thursday night, Forsberg failed to become the third player in NHL history to accomplish the feat in three straight games. But he assisted on the tying goal and scored the tiebreaking goal in the first nine minutes of the second period, when the Predators (30-22-9) erased a 1-0 deficit with three goals to take command.

"Tough night for him," joked Nashville defenseman Roman Josi of Forsberg.

Josi was the beneficiary of Forsberg's first helper. As seemingly every set of Washington eyes on the ice turned to Forsberg in the right faceoff circle, he slipped a pass between defensemen Aaron Ness and Nate Schmidt to Josi in the left circle for a wrister into an open net at 1:56.

Forsberg's pass even stunned Predators coach Peter Laviolette.

"Everybody in the building was waiting for him to unload it," Laviolette said. "Because of the noise around Filip, I think everyone was waiting for him to shoot. That was great timing by Roman to move up in the play."

A little less than seven minutes later, Viktor Arvidsson teed up Forsberg in the right circle for a one-timer on which Philipp Grubauer had no chance. The shot pinged off the left goalpost and bulged the net for Forsberg's 23rd goal as the building shook.

"It's always fun to score goals when your team is winning," Forsberg said. "The big thing is to keep the momentum going for the team."

The Predators made it 3-1 at 11:57 with a power-play marker, Mike Fisher appearing on the back side to tip Ryan Ellis' shot from the left point for his 15th goal of the season. It gave Nashville 78 goals in the second period, the most in the NHL.

Playing less than 24 hours after beating Edmonton at home, the Capitals (41-13-7) appeared to draw within 3-2 at 4:03 of the third period when Alex Ovechkin beat Juuse Saros on a wrister from the high slot.

But Laviolette challenged on the basis of Ovechkin being offside, and replay detected Ovechkin was in the offensive zone before Nicklas Backstrom carried the puck over the blue line.

"If we had gotten it to 3-2, I think we might have a real good push there," Washington coach Barry Trotz said. "But it didn't happen. We just didn't manage the puck real well a couple of times in the second period, and we knew the second period has been their period."

Given a reprieve by replay, the Predators made it 4-1 at 12:07. Josi ripped a slapper by Grubauer three seconds into a power play for his second goal of the day and 11th of the season. Josi has six goals and six assists in his last nine games, leading all NHL defensemen.

Evgeny Kuznetsov drew the Capitals within 4-2 at 17:03 on his 15th goal, a wrister from the right dot, but Arvidsson tacked on an empty-netter at 19:08 for the first 20-goal season of his career.

Ryan Johansen added three assists for Nashville, while Saros (7-5-3) stopped 24 shots to earn the win.

Grubauer (10-5-2) saved 21 of 25 shots for Washington, which also got Tom Wilson's sixth goal 1:12 into the game. But it wasn't nearly enough to keep Forsberg and the Predators from jumping over idle St. Louis for third place in the Central Division.

"It's a win against the best team in the league and I think we played pretty well," Josi said. "It should give us confidence."

NOTES: Washington RW T.J. Oshie, along with Ds Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik, didn't make the trip to Nashville. The Capitals hope all three return for Tuesday night's game at the New York Rangers. ... In a scheduling quirk, Washington and Edmonton flew into Nashville after Friday night's 2-1 Capitals win. The Oilers play the Predators on Sunday. ... Nashville RW James Neal, who has only one goal and five assists in the last 12 games, was dropped to the fourth line. ... The Predators scratched C Colton Sissons, along with Ds Anthony Bitetto and Brad Hunt.