Saros, Duchene help Predators hold off Kraken

SEATTLE --Juuse Saros made 33 saves for the Nashville Predators in a 4-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday.

Matt Duchene scored his 20th goal of the season for Nashville (27-14-3), which has won three straight.
"I thought, in general, I just liked the fact that we had a pretty gritty effort," Predators coach John Hynes said. "It wasn't an easy game, credit to Seattle. I thought they played a good game and tested us in certain areas. But, you know, I felt like we were able to gather ourselves in the areas that gave us trouble in particular periods … we were able to adjust some things and the guys came out, battled, did a good job for a hard-fought two points."

Jared McCann and Adam Larsson scored, Marcus Johansson had two assists, and Philipp Grubauer made 23 saves for Seattle (13-25-4), which finished 3-3-0 on a six-game homestand.
"We played our tails off, we played a good hockey game," Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. "Mistakes happen throughout the game but overall, we gave up a little on speed early in this game and shut that down and shut down the middle of the rink. We generated good opportunities, building a lead in the first and building that lead again in the second. I really liked the way our team played."
McCann scored at 8:59 of the first period on a 5-on-3 power play to give Seattle a 1-0 lead on a one-timer from the top of the right face-off circle. It was his first goal in seven games.
Luke Kunin tied it 1-1 at 19:39 when he scored on a slap shot from just outside the circle that beat Grubauer under his glove.
Larsson made it 2-1 at 12:21 of the second period when Yanni Gourde passed to him in the slot from behind the goal line.
Filip Forsberg tied it 2-2 at 15:15 on a wrist shot that beat Grubauer over his stick-side shoulder.
"That's kind of what separates him from a lot of forwards," Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. "That shot, it was unbelievable. You can see the determination he had behind that. Skating out, nobody was catching him, and he just wanted to rip on it. There's not too many players that can do that in this league, and it's impressive. I don't know what kind of goal pace he is on, but he's been huge for us."

Ekholm gave the Predators a 3-2 lead at 16:31 after circling behind the net and shooting into traffic, where it rebounded off the skate of Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn at the side of the crease.
"It's tough to chase a game in this league, even if you're down by one," Hakstol said. "We had some good looks. For me, the biggest thing is we put ourselves in positions to be in the lead at critical times in this game. For our team, we need to win this hockey game 2-1, 3-1. As we were chasing the game in the third, we had some good looks."
Duchene scored on the power play at 15:51 of the third period to make it 4-2 when he flipped the puck over Grubauer after it had rebounded off the end boards.
"I didn't think it was a perfect game by any means from us, but we find ways to win," Ekholm said. "That's the most important thing, obviously. I think we had moments in the game where we really liked our game. We hemmed them in for long stretches, but they came at us too in their home barn. We got two points and that's the objective."
NOTES: Kraken forward Calle Jarnkrok had three shots in 20:13 in his first game against his former team. Jarnkrok played his first eight NHL seasons with the Predators before being selected by the Kraken in the NHL Expansion Draft. … Kraken defenseman Haydn Fleury played his 200th NHL game.