That’s one.
Four different Predators found the back of the net, and Juuse Saros stopped all 33 shots he faced as Nashville shut out the Boston Bruins by a 4-0 final on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena.
The result gives the Preds their first win of the season, and while the effort wasn’t perfect, there was still plenty of reason to not only exhale in the Nashville locker room, but also celebrate a satisfying showing.
“I loved our compete, our work ethic and back to the mentality that every puck mattered,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “All 20 guys pulled the rope tonight. It was fun to see. We talked a little bit before the game that regardless of what happened, you'd feel pretty good with that effort. And that looked like us. We haven't looked like us very much in the first five.”
“Yeah, it feels very good,” Preds Alternate Captain Ryan O’Reilly said. “I thought just as a group, as a whole, our intensity was much better. And again, not a perfect game. We still made mistakes, but the way we kept fighting…that's a great lesson for us, that feeling for that intensity we bring.”
O’Reilly, Tommy Novak, Gustav Nyquist and Luke Evangelista all found the back of the net for the Preds - the fourth of which came into an empty net - and Saros was perfect on the evening as Nashville more than earned their first two points on the campaign.
“It’s tough, you start 0-5 and get some energy in this room, and from a win, [it feels good],” Nyquist said. “For the most part, we've kept our heads up high, but obviously you need that win, and it's nice to get it today.”
Both clubs traded chances in the early going, and with less than three minutes remaining in the opening period, Roman Josi’s point shot on the power play was tipped by O’Reilly past Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman for a 1-0 lead.
That score held until the 16:55 mark of the second stanza when Novak collected a rebound at the netmouth and got his shot to barely trickle over the goal line - just as another power play had expired - to give the Preds a 2-0 advantage after 40 minutes.
After Saros and Nashville’s defenders continued to turn the Bruins aside, Nyquist converted with a bit of a change-up on Swayman to put the Preds up by three, and Evangelista finished the night off as the entire building released a dose of jubilation.
“We always try to get better, look at things we could improve on and that we did well, and just try to keep improving,” Novak said. “This League [isn’t easy], so just keep trying to improve and string some together.”
The Predators will do just that when they head to Chicago to meet the Blackhawks on Friday night, and although this is just one win, Nashville will be eager to build off of something that felt like a long time coming.
“You could just feel the tightness in everyone,” O’Reilly said. “I know for myself…it just gets tighter and tighter, and you squeeze the sticks harder. So, it was nice to get this first win out of the way and hopefully propel ourselves into the direction we want to go.”
“There's still some things to clear up, but in saying that, when you go through a thing like this, you’ve got to celebrate a little bit and enjoy it,” Brunette said. “It was well deserved. I think we were squeezing our sticks and feeling a little bit of the heat. This could have went two different ways, and I think today, they stayed positive, they encouraged each other and helped each other get out of it a little bit here from one game. We all know in our League there's another [game ahead], but I'm really happy and proud because it's not easy… I thought we looked inward and played a heck of a hockey game.”
Notes:
Predators forward Zachary L’Heureux made his NHL debut on Tuesday night and registered one shot and four hits in 9:59 of ice time.
“I was really happy for him,” Brunette said of L’Heureux. “I thought he was fearless. He just did his job, played his role, didn't try to do too much. I think he's a really intelligent player, and he's got a really good stick and really good instincts and really good sense for the game of hockey. I thought he was really good tonight.”
Per NHL PR, Filip Forsberg and Roman Josi both factored on the same goal for the 166th time in their career, the highest total by a pair of teammates in franchise history. Forsberg and Josi’s total is the fourth highest in NHL history by a forward-defensemen combo both born outside North America.
Nashville scratched forwards Juuso Parssinen and Philip Tomasino, as well as defenseman Dante Fabbro, against the Bruins.
With their four-game homestand now complete, the Predators will head to Chicago to face the Blackhawks on Friday before returning to Nashville to host Columbus on Saturday night.
