Saros makes 27 saves, Predators shut out Canucks to end 3-game skid

VANCOUVER -- Juuse Saros made 27 saves for the Nashville Predators in a 3-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Friday.

It was the fourth shutout of the season for Saros, and his 27th in the NHL.

“’Juice’ was obviously really good for us,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said.

He made his best saves off J.T. Miller on a breakaway wrist shot to the blocker side 3:20 into the first period, and robbed Conor Garland on a backdoor rebound in tight with the right pad 2:50 into the second period.

“There's a big rebound and for a second you're like, 'Oh no' but obviously you always need the luck, you kind of stretch yourself there and it hit a good spot there,” Saros said. “So yeah, always need a little puck luck as well.”

Steven Stamkos scored the winning goal for the Predators (12-20-7), who ended a three-game losing streak during which they were outscored 15-7. Gustav Nyquist and Colton Sissons each had a goal and assist into the empty net late in the third period.

“It was one of those games where maybe we didn't necessarily have our best early,” Stamkos said. “Juice made some big saves, kept us in it, and PK was great, like it's been all year, and we talked about good teams find ways to win when it's not necessarily their best. … So maybe we can build off that.”

Kevin Lankinen made 16 saves for the Canucks (18-12-8), who were playing back-to-back after a 4-3 shootout win at the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

Vancouver has one regulation win in its past eight games (2-3-3) and hasn’t won consecutive games since Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, going 5-5-5 in that time.

“We probably created more chances than them and probably deserve a better fate tonight,” said Canucks forward Kiefer Sherwood, who had five shots against his former team. “We ran into a hot goalie tonight, and obviously we had a back-to-back, but I did think that it was impressive, our effort tonight.”

Lankinen matched Saros in the first period with a backdoor pad save on Filip Forsberg moving right, and robbed Nyquist on another cross-ice one-timer.

“I felt great,” said Lankinen, who took over 7:49 into the second period in Seattle on Thursday after No.1 Thatcher Demko left because of back spasms. “Obviously, as a goalie, usually the more you play, the better you feel. It was easy to get into the zone, feel good. Guys in front of me did a good job allowing me to see the puck and clear rebounds away too, so I was pretty happy.”

Lankinen spent the previous two seasons playing in Nashville before signing a one-year, $875,000 contract with Vancouver on Sept. 21.

“We played each other since we're 15 years old so it's always fun to play against him,” Saros said, “And he had a great, great game.”

Stamkos gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 16:53 of the second period when he scored on a 3-on-2 rush, passing to Jonathan Marchessault in the high slot then one-timing the return pass past the blocker of Lankinen from the left face-off dot.

“We made a good defensive play in the zone, kind of caught them a little bit on a turnover at the blue and I just anticipated that,” Stamkos said. “[Marchessault] can either shoot it or give it back. He gave it back, so great play, and nice to see that going, obviously a big goal in the way the game was going.”

It was Stamkos 12th goal of the season and the 567th of his NHL career, moving past Patrick Marleau into sole possession of 24th on the all-time list.

“Beautiful goal with the three of them tic-tac-toeing it,” Brunette said.

Nyquist scored into an empty net at 18:16 to make it 2-0 and Sissons did the same at 19:29 for the 3-0 final.

“I thought there was a commitment to close a game out, and we haven't done that a whole lot, so for me that was an opportunity to hopefully build off it a little bit,” Brunette said. “Penalty-killing was great, like it's been all year.”

Vancouver was 0-for-3 on the power play and failed to generate a shot on two chances with the man-advantage in the third period. Nashville was 0-for-2.

“Penalty kill came in huge at the at the end, didn't give them much on those power plays,” Saros said. “The desperation was there and the urgency, even though maybe not the prettiest at the times, but the effort was there for sure.”

NOTES: Nashville forward Fedor Svechkov, called up from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Friday, had three shots in 11:55 of ice time centering the third line in place of Tommy Novak, who was a late scratch with an upper-body injury and is day to day. … Predators forward Ozzy Wiesblatt played 9:40 in his NHL debut after being called up from the AHL on Thursday in place of suspended forward Zachary L'Heureux. … Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs was called up from Abbotsford of the AHL on an emergency basis to back up Lankinen with Demko out.