With the Canes entering as winners of their last three, the action began with a high pace in the Music City. Each club felt like they were on the verge of either scoring or creating a high-danger chance in the opening five minutes, forcing both Saros and Frederik Andersen to be ready in their respective creases.
Andersen's biggest save of the stretch came in the form of a breakaway denial on Kiefer Sherwood, but unfortunately moments later the Preds were able to get one by him.
Struggling mightily on the man advantage as of late, the Canes' first attempt of the night was not only unable to produce a goal, in fact, it had one go against them. Working the other way on a two-on-one, Nashville's Mark Jankowski picked his spot, giving the home side the opening tally of the night.
Then, exactly three minutes later, the Predators would double their lead.
Working in their offensive zone, Michael McCarron flung a puck to the front of the net from the corner and it bounced off of the skate of an unsuspecting Andersen and in.
Behind the eight ball, the Canes were able to get back to their possession-based attack to close out the frame, but the contest moved to the second with them still trailing by a pair.
The second period looked a lot like the end of the first, with the bulk of it spent in Nashville's defending end. Over the 20-minute stretch, Carolina doubled the Preds in shots, but Saros continued upon his momentum built in the first.
In the final minute of the frame, it looked like the Canes had finally found some life in the form of a Brady Skjei goal, however, a successful challenge from the home team wiped it off the board. Saros' perfect night remained intact, pushing aside 26 tests through two periods.
In the third, Carolina had another goal waved off, this time due to a delayed offside.
Brent Burns faked a dump-in at neutral ice and caught Saros leaning out of his crease, slipping one by him to the far side. However, the Canes still had two skaters in the zone, thus nullifying the attempt.
The pair of erased tallies would be as close as the Canes would get to legally finding the twine all night, as none of their six remaining tries would get by Saros. Nashville packed it in defensively to close out the contest, finishing with 26 blocks in total.
They'd then hit the empty net to round out the scoring, ending the affair with the three-goal win.
