Saros makes 25 saves, Predators shut out Rangers

NASHVILLE -- Juuse Saros made 25 saves for the Nashville Predators in a 2-0 win against the New York Rangers at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.

Jonathan Marchessault scored to extended his point streak to four games (three goals, three assists), and Adam Wilsby got his first NHL goal for the Predators (9-17-6), who have won two of their past three games after losing eight straight (0-5-3). Steven Stamkos and Filip Forsberg each had two assists.

“Really proud of the group, how we handled the last five minutes,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “We didn’t give up a whole lot. We closed the game out. Our details were sharp, and that’s hard to do when things aren’t going your way this year. A lot of times you see a little fragility with your group. I thought today we looked like a team that’s won a lot of games how we closed it out.”

The Rangers (15-15-1) have lost five of six and are 3-11-0 in their past 14 games. Igor Shesterkin made 30 saves.

“What I didn’t like was the third period,” New York coach Peter Laviolette said. “We came out and I thought they had the edge on us. They probably 2-to-1’ed us in chances, seven to four, six to three, something like that. We needed more in the third when you’re down 1-0. That’s where we’ve got to find our way out of something, and that’s where we’re not getting it done right now.”

Marchessault gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 13:37 of the first period. Forsberg got the puck to Stamkos, who made a backhand pass to Marchessault for a tap-in at the right post on the rush.

“Obviously I’m playing with gifted players, so the game gets a little easier sometimes out there,” Marchessault said. “But despite the production or not, I was just trying to help my team win a hockey game. Right now, I think we’ve been doing that so far. We’ve got to keep building. Obviously we’ve had a really bad start, but that’s in the past now.”

Wilsby pushed it to 2-0 at 11:59 of the third period. He deked around Rangers forward Reilly Smith at the blue line, skated down the slot, and beat Shesterkin with the wrist shot through traffic.

“Unbelievable first goal by Wilsby there,” Predators defenseman Luke Schenn said. “I don’t even know how you could dream of having a better goal than that. That was pretty special, and pretty elite skating on the blue line there. He was dancing and picked the corner.”

It was the first time the Rangers have been shut out this season.

“We’ve got to find ways to score goals,” New York forward Chris Kreider said. “They did a good job on the [penalty] kill. We got a few looks. They were obviously blocking a lot and getting in lanes, but we knew that going in so we needed to do more bad-angle shots. Stuff just thrown into the mud and jumping on the loose stuff. There were moments of it, and we did a better job of playing north, playing quickly and establishing some zone time.”

Rangers defenseman Urho Vaakanainen made his team debut after being acquired in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks for former captain Jacob Trouba on Dec. 8, while forward Artemi Panarin missed his second consecutive game because of an upper-body injury.

NOTES: Rangers forward Kaapo Kakko returned to the lineup after he was a healthy scratch in a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. Kakko finished with three shots on goal in 10:14 of ice time. … Predators defenseman Roman Josi missed his third consecutive game because of a lower-body injury.