NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -The Nashville Predators overcame an early three-goal deficit to hand the free-falling Pittsburgh Penguins another loss.

Ryan Suter's power-play goal at 9:04 of the third period broke a 3-3 tie, and the Predators beat the Penguins 5-3 on Thursday night to snap a five-game losing streak.

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Pittsburgh has lost six of its last seven games.

``We didn't deserve to win the hockey game,' Penguins star Sidney Crosby said. ``You can't cut corners and for us we didn't play well enough throughout the whole game.'

With Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi in the penalty box for interference, Suter fired a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. The puck deflected off of Pittsburgh defenseman Mark Eaton and past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

``We were easily doubting ourselves when it was 3-0 and we could have easily called it a night and packed up shop but we didn't,' Suter said. ``At the end of the game, it was nice to celebrate a win again.'

Petr Sykora put the Penguins in front 1-0 at 14:18 of the first period off of a nice pass from Sidney Crosby. Pittsburgh made 3-0 on goals by Jordan Staal and Maxime Talbot 21 seconds apart before the second period was 4 minutes old.

Staal's goal spelled the end of the night for Nashville goalie Dan Ellis, with Predators coach Barry Trotz lifting his starter for backup Pekka Rinne.

``The only reason I did that was to try to change our luck,' Trotz said. ``It wasn't anything about how Danny Ellis played.'

``It feels great to get a win, we needed one of those,' Rinne said. ``I just went in as a relief, and it went well.'

Earlier Thursday, Staal signed a four-year contract extension with the Penguins.

Nashville scored three consecutive goals to conclude the wild second period.

``Our resiliency got tested tonight,' Trotz said. ``All three of our goals there in the second were hard-nosed goals, and those are the kind of goals we need.'

Martin Erat's goal at 7:57 got the Predators on the board. David Legwand scored a short-handed goal at 13:32, and Jerred Smithson tied it with 54.6 left in the second.

``We were down and out in a five-game losing streak, and to come back and win says something about this team,' Erat said. ``We just kept going for 60 minutes, turned around, and came away with the victory.'

Legwand's goal was set up by Erat on a 2-on-1 short-handed rush. From the left side, Erat sent a cross-ice pass to Legwand in the right circle. Legwand beat a helpless Fleury with a one-timer to the glove side. Two of Legwand's seven goals on the season have been scored with the Predators short-handed.

``That was a great pass by Marty,' Legwand said. ``It was nice to get a goal to get back on the sheet. It was a big lift for us.'

Greg Zanon's empty-net goal capped the scoring for Nashville.

``Right now, we find ways to always let the other team back in the game,' Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. ``I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed with the performance of a lot of guys.'

Notes: Prior to the game, the NHL presented Nashville captain Jason Arnott with a silver stick in honor of his 1,000th game played on Dec. 20. ... Pittsburgh has allowed eight short-handed goals against this season.