Saros Makes 23 Saves as Predators Fall to Blues 1-0 in Overtime

After a scoreless 60 minutes of regulation, Brayden Schenn scored for the St. Louis Blues with 2:37 remaining in overtime to hand the Nashville Predators a 1-0 loss Monday at Enterprise Center.
Despite 23 saves from goaltender Juuse Saros and a perfect three-for-three penalty kill, Monday evening's loss became the third-straight for the Predators, who earned a point in the OT defeat to their Central Division rivals and moved to 12-11-3 on the season.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

New Faces
Nashville's third defensive pair featured two new additions in Kevin Gravel and Roland McKeown, who were recalled Monday from Milwaukee (AHL) with defensemen Alexandre Carrier and Jeremy Lauzon sidelined due to injuries sustained in Saturday's loss to Ottawa.
Playing in his ninth professional season, Gravel has six points (6a) and 10 penalty minutes in 22 games with the Admirals. He recorded three of his assists during a three-game point streak from Nov. 26-Dec. 1, a stretch that also saw him post a +2 rating and six shots on goal. Gravel came to the Predators organization in July after skating in a career-high 59 AHL games with Stockton in 2021-22. Prior to his Preds debut Monday, Gravel had skated in 109 NHL games, with his most recent action coming in 2019-20 with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
McKeown is tied for the Admirals lead and is tied for fifth among all AHL skaters in plus-minus this season at +12, and his eight points (2g-6a) put him in a tie for second out of Milwaukee blueliners in the category through 22 games. A veteran of eight professional seasons - skating in his first with the Predators organization - McKeown had previously appeared in 10 career NHL games, all for the Carolina Hurricanes in 2017-18, and he won the Calder Cup with Charlotte in 2019.
Special Teams
Each team's penalty kill unit held the game scoreless through two periods. Nashville's unit was 3-for-3, while St. Louis' was 4-for-4.
Despite St. Louis entering Monday's game with the league's worst penalty kill at 65.6 percent, the Predators power-play unit was unable to score and fell to 0-8 over the last two games.

THEY SAID IT

Juuse Saros on Nashville's perfect penalty kill against St. Louis:
"I think we had some good looks on the power play. And then obviously, the penalty kill was huge and we didn't really let them have any good looks. The guys did a really good job in front of me."
Tanner Jeannot on Nashville's overall effort:
"I think defensively we played a really good game. We were aware of their speed. They like to play with a lot of pace, so we made sure that we had some guys back and covering and I thought we made a lot of really good plays coming out of our zone. And we limited our time in the D-zone and when we were there we had people doing their assignments, so I thought defensively we played a really good game."
Head Coach John Hynes on McKeown and Gravel joining Nashville's D-pairs:
"I thought they did a great job. They came in and they played well. I thought they competed really hard and they had some big blocks and they filled in really well. I thought defensively we were pretty sound tonight, and those guys fit right in, so it was nice to see."
Head Coach John Hynes on Nashville's power play:
"I thought the power play had some chances, but it's got to be more threatening. I thought Ekholm's unit had some really good looks and I thought with Josi's unit that he had some good looks himself, but for the amount of power play time we had and those guys on the ice, it's got to be way more threatening than it was tonight."

UP NEXT

The Preds will play the back end of their road-home back-to-back Tuesday when they host the Edmonton Oilers at Bridgestone Arena. Puck drops at 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio.