DENVER -- A trade and travel trouble made for an eventful 24 hours for the Nashville Predators.

They turned the whirlwind day into one of their most satisfying wins of the season.

Filip Forsberg and Mike Fisher scored goals in the third period, Pekka Rinne had 28 saves and the Predators rallied to beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Saturday just hours after arriving in Denver.

Cody McLeod also scored a day after Nashville acquired him from Colorado. The Avalanche honored him with a video tribute early in the first period, and then he dropped the gloves with Jarome Iginla early in the second period.

"I thought we could use a spark right then and I asked Iggy, and Iggy's a tough guy," McLeod said. "No hard feelings, we both play hard. I love Iggy, we're good friends, but on the ice it's all business."

Gabriel Landeskog and Francois Beauchemin scored and Semyon Varlamov had 29 saves for Colorado, which has lost 12 of 13 at home.

McLeod's arrival coincided with the return of forward James Neal, who missed five games with an upper-body injury. McLeod made an instant impact when he crashed the net and he poked a pass from Harry Zolnierczyk past Varlamov to make it 2-1 at 7:52 of the second.

He was the most-rested member of his new team. A mechanical problem with the plane out of Nashville on Friday kept the team at the airport for most of the day before the decision was made to fly out early Saturday morning.

The Predators landed at 10:30 a.m. at Denver International Airport, left their luggage on the plane and got to Pepsi Center at 11 a.m., two hours before puck drop.

"We had to make a tough decision last night on what was best," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's hard. The guys, they had to get up at 5:45 this morning. You're out of sync. Everything is out of sync."

The Predators (20-16-7) found their legs in the third period and struck twice in a span of 3:06. Fisher tied it five minutes in when he went in alone on Varlamov and beat him with a backhand. It was his 12th of the season.

Forsberg, who went off in the first period after a hard hit, scored at 8:06 with a quick shot off the faceoff.

Varlamov went off for an extra skater with 2:10 left but Colorado couldn't score. They knocked the puck in on one sequence but it was waved off because the officials blew the whistle.

"I'm right behind the play, coming down from the blue line I see it's loose the whole way and we poke it in, but it is what it is," Landeskog said. "It's frustrating, but at the same time officials make mistakes just like players do."

Things got heated late in the second period when Colorado's Rene Bourque was given a five-minute boarding major and a game misconduct when he checked Nashville's Viktor Arvidsson face first into the boards in front of both benches.

Arvidsson went to the locker room briefly but quickly returned to the bench.

"You see a guy like Filip go for a twirl in the air, see Arvi go head first into the boards, you're concerned," Laviolette said.

The Avalanche (13-27-1) took a 2-0 lead with goals in the first and second period. Landeskog got the first one when his shot from the side of the net went off Rinne's skate and in at 4:07 of the first. It was his eighth of the season.

Beauchemin's first goal doubled the lead when his shot from between the circles beat Rinne at 2:21 of the second but they couldn't hold the lead.

"Going into the third with a lead, that has to be something that is automatic," Landeskog said. "For whatever reason, you are a fragile group that doesn't have a lot of confidence in playing with leads."

NOTES: The Predators placed Roman Josi and Colin Wilson on injured reserve on Friday. Josi was injured in the first period of a victory over Boston on Thursday. Wilson missed the three previous games because of an upper-body injury. ... With the trade of Cody McLeod to Nashville, Matt Duchene is the longest-tenured player with Colorado. Duchene, who turns 26 on Monday, is in his eighth season after being selected third overall in the 2009 draft. ... Nashville D Alexandre Carrier, recalled Thursday, was a scratch. He has yet to play in an NHL game. LW Kevin Fiala and C Mike Ribeiro also were scratched. ... The Avalanche played their second of three afternoon games at home.