NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Pekka Rinne was experiencing a frustrating night, but his Nashville Predators teammates picked him up every time the Tampa Bay Lightning scored.

In the shootout, Rinne paid them back.

Stuffing all three of Tampa Bay's attempts, Rinne helped Nashville pull out a 5-4 win Tuesday night in a highly entertaining game at Bridgestone Arena between two of the NHL's top teams.

After left winger Filip Forsberg started the shootout by deking Lightning goalie Ben Bishop almost to the roof before scoring, Rinne stopped right winger Ryan Callahan, left winger Jonathan Drouin and right winger Nikita Kucherov.

"It seemed like a midseason game out there," Rinne said. "A lot of fast guys out there, a lot of chances going forward. It was a fun game to play in, but a little hard for a goalie ... a lot of ups and downs."

The teams' best intentions aside, defense seemed almost optional at times as the Predators (5-1-0) swapped end-to-end rushes with Tampa Bay (4-2-1). The Lightning owned leads of 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 but couldn't hang on to any of them.

The third blown one-goal edge was the one that stuck with Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper. At 14:30 of the third period, red-hot left winger James Neal one-timed Forsberg's cross-ice pass past Bishop for his fifth goal -- all in the last three games.

"Bottom line is, you have a one-goal lead with 10 minutes left and it's time to shut the door," Cooper said. "We didn't."

Not that there weren't glorious chances for both teams before the shootout. Nashville squeezed off four shots during a late power play in regulation, with Bishop (4-2-1) denying defenseman Shea Weber on a wrister from the slot for the biggest of his 29 saves.

Late in overtime, Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman got a breakaway, but fanned his shot over the crossbar.

"I don't think you have a choice," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said about the game's rapid pace. "They have a lot of skill, a lot of speed. It was back-and-forth. I thought both teams played really well."

Center Mike Fisher initiated scoring with a rebound goal at 19:07 of the first period, marking the sixth straight game in which Nashville scored first.

It was a prelude to a wide-open second period. Tampa Bay center Steven Stamkos tied it with a power-play tally at 3:25, followed by Kucherov's odd goal at 8:51 which saw his wrister strike the skate of Predators center Paul Gaustad and then flop over Rinne's head, landing just behind the goal line.

Weber blazed a slapper by Bishop at 10:29 for his first goal to even the score at 2. Callahan's point blast gave the Lightning a 3-2 edge at 17:41, but Neal responded 74 seconds later with a wrister off Forsberg's pass.

Tampa Bay regained the advantage at 5:24 of the third when right winger Erik Condra ripped a one-timer past Rinne off a nice feed from behind the net by center Brian Boyle.

However, Neal, Forsberg and Rinne constructed one more comeback.

"They're a really fast team and so are we," Forsberg said. "So it was probably a really fun game to watch for the crowd. There were a lot of goals and a lot of chances. But I like the shootout. I like the chance to go one-on-one with the goalie."

That didn't work so well for the Lightning as Rinne (4-1-0), who had 25 saves in regulation and overtime, made up for his frustration.

"You don't want to give up four goals every night," Rinne said with a smile. "We just stuck with it. There's a lot of confidence in this locker room. We came up with a really big two points tonight."

NOTES: Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman (concussion) returned Tuesday night after missing Saturday night's 2-1 win over Buffalo. Hedman was injured in a 5-3 loss Thursday evening against Dallas. ... Nashville D Ryan Ellis (knee) and D Barret Jackman (upper-body) didn't play and were replaced by D Victor Bartley and D Anthony Bitetto. Jones was hit by a shot during Saturday night's 4-3 shootout win in Ottawa. ... Lightning RW Erik Condra was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch Saturday night, with RW J.T. Brown being the odd man out. ... Predators LW Austin Watson (upper-body) was scratched and replaced by LW Viktor Arvidsson, who sat out the last three games as a healthy scratch.