Saros makes 39 saves, Predators defeat Panthers

NASHVILLE -- Juuse Saros made 39 saves for the Nashville Predators in a 4-1 win against the Florida Panthers at Bridgestone Arena on Monday.

Erik Haula had a goal and an assist for the Predators (27-21-2), who have won three of four.
"I've been just trying to take it game by game and not think about too much ahead," Saros said. "Just trying to focus one period at a time and give the team a chance to win. Even today when Florida had their time, as a team I think we really stuck together. You always kind of feed off of your teammates too when you see guys blocking shots and giving their all and stuff like that. It's always fun to see that."
The Predators are in fourth place in the eight-team Discover Central Division, two points ahead of the Dallas Stars, who have two games in hand. The top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Panthers are second in the Central, two points behind the Hurricanes and one point ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Florida could have clinched a playoff berth with a win.
Sam Bennett scored for the Panthers (31-14-5), who are 4-2-0 in their past six games.
"We wanted to throw some pucks at [Saros] and get some rebounds and wanted to be better in the blue paint today," Florida defenseman Radko Gudas said. "I thought we did a pretty good job of getting pucks through. We just couldn't get the rebounds that we wanted. We couldn't get the shots through when we got good screens. We were most of the time on the wrong side of the rebounds."
The teams will play again here Tuesday.
Bennett gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 4:49 of the first period when Anthony Duclair's pass went in off his skates. Bennett has scored seven points (four goals, three assists) in six games since being traded to the Panthers from the Calgary Flames on April 12.

Mikael Granlund scored for the Predators on the rebound of a shot by Roman Josi to tie the game 1-1 at 6:30.
Nick Cousins gave Nashville a 2-1 lead at 3:35 of the second period on a shot from the slot on a pass from behind the net by Haula.
"We're scoring a lot more goals than we were earlier in the year and we're giving up a lot less too," Cousins said. "I mean, we look like a completely different team from the start of the year. All our forwards are buying into the identity we want to play, and with that you have success. We've just got to keep it going. The way we're playing right now, it's tough to compete with us."

Panthers goalie Chris Driedger left the game at 15:05 of the second period because of a lower-body injury after making 14 saves. Florida coach Joel Quenneville said that Driedger is day to day.
"It was progressively deteriorating as the game was going on," Quenneville said. "So we thought it was prudent to take him out at that time."
Sergei Bobrovsky replaced Driedger and made nine saves on 11 shots.
Haula gave the Predators a 3-1 lead at 2:39 of the third period on a shot from the slot off of a backhand pass from Matt Duchene.
"I think when [Duchene] has the opportunity to make some plays, he can do it," Predators coach John Hynes said. "As you saw tonight, he made a nice play to Haula. I think he's come in and fit. There's some chemistry. There's three veteran players that seem like they have some chemistry, so hopefully they can continue to go the way they're going right now."
Yakov Trenin made it 4-1 at 9:12 of the third period on a redirection of a shot from Tanner Jeannot.
NOTES: Panthers forward Patric Hornqvist was scratched. ... Florida forward Noel Acciari returned to the lineup after missing five games because of an upper-body injury. … Predators defenseman Erik Gudbranson had his first assist with the Predators on Haula's goal. He was traded to Nashville by the Ottawa Senators on April 12.