CALGARY, Alberta -- It took Ryan Ellis until his 318th career game in his sixth NHL season for him to break through with his first two-goal effort.

Turns out the Nashville Predators needed both of them as well as goals from James Neal and Filip Forsberg to edge the Calgary Flames 4-3 on Thursday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

"Tonight we needed them all," said Ellis, who commended Forsberg for scoring a big goal in the third period to give Nashville a 4-3 lead. "Fil's was a big goal for us obviously at the time near the end there. It was a good team effort, a little scary down the stretch there, but we earned that one."

Viktor Arvidsson chipped in with two assists for the Predators (21-17-7), who rebounded from a 1-0 shutout loss of their own they suffered Tuesday in Vancouver to the Canucks.

"It feels good," Ellis said. "The way the last game against Vancouver went, we felt we deserved a little better in that one. Tonight we worked for about 57 minutes and still got rewarded for it, so it's a good sign for our team."

Rookie goalie Juuse Saros (5-3-1) made 32 saves, including 13 in the third period to backstop the Predators to the bounce-back victory.

"Hockey's a momentum game, but we survived in the end," said Saros, who the Predators selected in the fourth round, 99th overall, of the 2013 NHL Draft. "I felt pretty good the whole game. The D let me see the pucks well and collect all the rebounds, so that was good."

Kris Versteeg and Michael Frolik counted goals 17 seconds apart in the third period, and Sean Monahan scored with 47.2 seconds remaining to pull the Flames (24-21-3) within one goal.

"This is a team game and as a team we've got to be better than that start to finish," said Monahan, who also had an assist to give him four goals and two helpers in his past four games. "We didn't have the start we wanted. We had some simple mistakes where they capitalized and that can't happen in games like this."

Dougie Hamilton had two assists and Calgary goalie Chad Johnson finished with 17 saves.

"We weren't ready to play," said Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan, whose team has given up the first goal in six straight games. "They were more desperate than we were. We were waiting for something to happen instead of making it happen."

The Predators head north to play the Oilers in Edmonton on Friday, and the Flames have a day off to prepare to face the Oilers at home on Saturday.

Forsberg took a breakaway pass from Arvidsson and snapped a shot to the short side past Johnson at 8:21 of the third to put the Predators up 4-0.

Versteeg's point shot then deflected off Nashville defenseman Yannick Weber's stick and past Saros for a power-play goal at 16:17.

Frolik fired a shot past Saros 17 seconds later with Matthew Tkachuk providing a screen in front.

Monahan then redirected a pass from Johnny Gaudreau on net and then put the rebound past Saros in the game's final minute to round out the scoring.

Neal opened the scoring for Nashville at 4:59 of the first period when he picked up a rebound in the slot and slid a shot through Johnson's five-hole. Anthony Bitetto took the initial shot from the point and it was tipped on net by Mike Fisher, who picked up his 300th career NHL assist.

Ellis took a pass from Zolnierczyk and snapped a shot that went off Johnson's glove and into the net at 11:23 of the second.

Later in the second period, Saros made a nice kick save to stop a shot by Frolik, who was set up in front by linemate Mikael Backlund.

Ellis put the Predators up 3-0 thanks to a power play goal at 18:58 of the second when he blasted a slap shot from the high slot through Johnson's legs.

NOTES: After contributing zero points in his past 10 games and two goals in the last 16, C Sam Bennett was a healthy scratch for the Flames. ... LW Micheal Ferland made his return to Calgary's lineup after missing the past three games with a lower-body injury. ... RW Garnet Hathaway missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury. D Brett Kulak also sat out as a healthy scratch for Calgary. ... D Alexandre Carrier made his NHL debut for the Predators in a 1-0 loss Tuesday in Vancouver. He finished with 10:49 of ice time and one blocked shot. ... Predators D P.K. Subban missed his 16th straight game because of an upper-body injury. D Brad Hunt and C Colton Sissons sat out as healthy scratches. ... Hunt was claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. ... Referee Tom Kowal was honored before puck drop for working his 1,000th NHL game.