SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- Long road trips can either help or hurt teams in the middle of the season. Having just finished five in a row away from home, the Nashville Predators are helping themselves plenty as they seek a return to the playoffs.

Filip Forsberg scored twice in the third period on Sunday as the Predators rallied from an early deficit to cap their successful five-game road trip with a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Wild.

Forsberg recorded his first two-goal game of the season. He scored on a rebound early in the third to tie the game and got the game-winner with just over six minutes to play, beating Minnesota goalie Darcy Kuemper low with a shot from the far boards.

"Our start wasn't great but then we kind of got going and were working hard and we just get back in the game," Forsberg said. "We played better and better in the game and that's how we want to do it, too."

The Predators trailed 2-0 early but got a goal from James Neal in the second period and then Forsberg's pair late. Ryan Johansen added an empty-net goal with 78 seconds left in the third.

Pekka Rinne overcame a rough start to stop 21 shots as Nashville (23-17-7) won four out of five on its road swing.

"We knew how important this road trip was, the position we were starting in and knowing how tough it is to travel and all those things," Predators captain Mike Fisher said. "It's tested us in a lot of different ways but we've played real hard and we're coming into our own."

Minnesota, playing the second of back-to-back games, built an early lead on goals by Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville but was dominated in the final 40 minutes. The Wild (30-11-5) got 28 saves from Kuemper while falling at home for just the sixth time this season, and seeing another early lead slip away.

"Obviously if we want to win a championship it's got to get better," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said, after his team fell to a still-impressive 19-3-2 since Dec. 1. "You can't do that. You've got to be able to play with a lead. It's tough to play with a lead in this league. It's like prevent defense in football and it never seems to work. You've got to go after them and try to increase the lead rather than just hold the lead."

Forsberg tied the game after a shot by Viktor Arvidsson got caught in the skates of Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon just long enough for the Predators to get a shot off and past Kuemper.

Minnesota's Nino Niederreiter hit the post with two minutes to play, just missing tying the game prior to the Johansen empty-netter.

With Wild captain Mikko Koivu scratched shortly before the game, the team's second line was juggled, and the trio clicked right away. Center Jordan Schroeder passed from the far boards to Jason Zucker in the high slot. Zucker fed a quick pass to Granlund, who was in alone on Rinne and tucked a low shot around the goalie's out-stretched right skate. It was the first goal of 2017 for Granlund, who last scored in a New Year's Eve loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Pominville doubled the Wild lead before the first period was half over, snapping in a wrist shot that found a small gap under Rinne's left arm. The first period ended with the shots even at 10 for each team.

"When you give yourself a two-goal lead, you can't let them hang around," Wild left winger Zach Parise said. "You have to get that third one and put them out of the game. And we weren't able to do that."

Nashville recorded the first four shots of the second and finally solved Kuemper early in the period. After a centering pass from Mike Ribeiro, Neal used Wild defenseman Ryan Suter as a screen. With Kuemper's view obstructed, Neal ripped a shot over the goalie's left arm and into the upper corner of the net. It was the team-leading 16th goal for Neal and his second in the past three games.

"We were slow getting out of the gate. I don't think that we were moving that fast. I blame part of it on myself," said Nashville coach Peter Laviolette, who collected his 500th career win on Sunday. "We were trying to make sure we were doing the right thing out there. The second period, we kind of took the brakes off the players and got them moving and tried to play a much more aggressive game and that seemed to get us going in the right direction."

The Predators pressed throughout the second, outshooting Minnesota 10-4, but still trailed 2-1 after 40 minutes.

NOTES: Wild captain Mikko Koivu was ruled inactive before warmups due to an illness. C Jordan Schroeder took his place on Minnesota's second line, and RW Kurtis Gabriel was inserted in the lineup on the Wild's fourth line. ... While happy to have D P.K. Subban back in the lineup, Nashville was without D Roman Josi for the fifth consecutive game on Sunday. Josi sustained an upper-body injury in a 2-1 home win over the Boston Bruins on Jan. 12 and has not played since. ... With just one point in his past 27 games, Wild C Tyler Graovac was a healthy scratch on Saturday, but was back in the lineup on Sunday, anchoring the team's fourth line. He finished with no points and minus-1 rating. ... After finishing a five-game road trip, the Predators are home for their next two games before the All-Star break, including a Tuesday date against the Buffalo Sabres. The Wild's next game is on the road versus the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.