*Photo from the Associated Press*
After Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne experienced some regression last season, his backup, Juuse Saros, had to prove he was ready to be a number one goalie this season for Nashville to have a shot at the playoffs. So far, he's proving it. Saros stopped 29 shots, Matt Duchene scored the winner, and the Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks by a 2-1 score via shootout to improve to 4-3, good for first place in the central division.
The scoring didn't start until 5:24 into the 3rd period, when Nick Cousins scored his first with the Predators to make it 1-0 Nashville. Exactly 4 minutes later, Ryan Carpenter scored his first goal to tie the game at one late in the game. It remained that way until the shootout, where Duchene was the only one to score on either side, giving Nashville the win.
Cousins described how Saros played, saying that "In the shootout, he made every save look pretty easy. He's so patient in the net. Even just shooting on him on a regular basis in practice, he doesn't give you much. He's an athletic goalie, he covers a lot of the net, looks really calm, and it gives us a lot of confidence when he's out there making saves like he did tonight. He's been really solid for us so far this season, and credit to him, he works hard and he deserves everything he gets."
The Predators finished with 42 shots in goal, as opposed to 30 from the Blackhawks. Despite the high shot volume, Nashville had trouble cracking the Blackhawks netminder Kevin Lankinen, who stopped all but one shot in regulation.
Still, Duchene had an upbeat tone after the game, saying that "We got rewarded for playing good hockey. Tonight, they had a better game tonight, they pushed back harder tonight, and they were definitely stingy and didn't give up as much, but we imposed some will on them again tonight."
Blackhawks head coach Jeremy Colliton talked about the way his team played, saying that it was a "Much better effort tonight. It was a hard-fought game. Not a lot going on offensively for the first two periods both ways, but I liked that we were tight. Third period opened up a little bit, obviously they got the goal there. We had them in a really good spot in transition and then we turned the puck over, they go the other way. But I thought we responded well."
The Blackhawks host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night, where Malcom Subban is expected to start for Chicago. The Predators don't play until Saturday, with Saros expected to get the start against the defending stanley cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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