Parssinen scores in NHL debut, Predators defeat Rangers

NASHVILLE -- Juuso Parssinen scored in his NHL debut for the Nashville Predators in a 2-1 win against the New York Rangers at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

Parssinen, who was selected by Nashville in the seventh round (No. 210) of the 2019 NHL Draft, was recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League earlier in the day. He gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 4:58 of the first period when carried the puck from his own blue line, skated around Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere, and beat Jaroslav Halak from in tight.
"It's an unreal feeling," the 21-year-old said. "It was a dream come true. I didn't expect to score on my first shot, but I'll take that every day. But the most important thing is we got the win, so that's a huge win for us."
Parssinen played center on a line with veterans Filip Forsberg and Mikael Granlund.
"It was what we expected [of Parssinen]," Predators coach John Hynes said. "He's a very consistent player. He came to play his game tonight as we all saw. He's got great speed and pace to his game. He's got good size (6-foot-3, 212 pounds). He's got the strength and the body to be able to play at this level."

Juuse Saros made 34 saves for the Predators (6-8-1), who opened a five-game homestand after losing the final two of a five-game road trip.
The game was Saros' first since Nov. 8 against the Seattle Kraken, when he was pulled after making two saves on six shots in a 5-1 loss.
"It was nice to see [Saros] be able to have that game," Hynes said. "To me, I just thought he looked more like himself tonight. He looked confident in the net. I thought he read the play well.
"I thought he fought through traffic. He's always a guy that makes three or four unexpected saves a game. But he looked quick, focused. I just liked his posture in the net."
Filip Chytil scored, and Halak made 16 saves for the Rangers (7-6-3), who have lost four of five (1-3-1).
New York outshot Nashville 35-18, including 27-10 in the first two periods.
"It's disappointing we lost," Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck said. "I don't think we played bad though. I don't think we played disappointing. I thought we played well.
"We got tons of chances, it's just a matter of being able to put them in the net. They just didn't want to go in for us tonight.

Mark Jankowski gave Nashville a 2-0 lead at 8:37 of the second. Following a Rangers turnover in their own zone, Roman Josi skated through a pair of defenders before connecting with Jankowski in front of the net.
Chytil cut the lead to 2-1 at 11:56 of the second when he scored from the slot after Adam Fox found him from behind the Predators net.
"I don't think we need to change too much about how we're playing," New York forward Barclay Goodrow said. "I think we're playing well. We controlled the play tonight. I think we just keep doing what we're doing, and we should be more successful."
The Rangers failed to convert on a four-minute power play at 13:41 of the third period after Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauzon received a double minor for high-sticking forward Sammy Blais.
"That [power play] there was huge," Nashville defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. "Most importantly, you need courage and sacrifice. We showed a lot of that with the shot blocking. You need some goaltending, which we saw, showed a lot of that. ... I think we did a pretty decent job of not allowing second and third opportunities."

NOTES: Rangers forward Ryan Reaves played in place of forward Vitali Kravtsov (illness) … Fox extended his point streak to five games (two goals, six assists) … Predators forward Michael McCarron played in place of Yakov Trenin, who is day to day with a lower-body injury.