When asked what he thought of Juuse Saros’ performance, Gus Nyquist smiled wryly and said, “Yeah, he was pretty good today.”
Indeed he was.
Saros made 23 saves and the Nashville Predators defeated the Winnipeg Jets by a 2-1 final on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds their second victory over the League’s top team to finish out the season series with their division rival.
Filip Forsberg and Tommy Novak scored in the win, and coupled with a massive, 5-on-3 penalty kill in the second period, the Predators concluded their four-game homestand with one of their more impressive showings of the season to halt Winnipeg’s win streak at 11 games.
“That was a good effort,” Forsberg said. “Penalty kill came up unbelievably clutch for us. I thought [Saros] played great. But the penalty kill was the difference. Obviously, the special teams ended up being the winner.”
“That was a great effort against a really good team,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “They’re arguably the best team in the League, [and we] had to do it the hard way… A gutsy effort by everybody. Everybody contributed, everybody brought something. So, we're able to leave this game here tonight with a good feeling. We haven't left too many nights with a good feeling, so hopefully we can build a little momentum off this.”
Forsberg struck first on Thursday less than five minutes into the contest when he rifled a shot over the shoulder of Jets goaltender Eric Comrie for his 22nd tally of the season. Winnipeg evened the score with a goal from Neal Pionk midway through the opening period, but before the frame was out, Justin Barron found Novak in front on the man advantage, and the forward one-timed a shot into the twine to give the Preds a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
“It’s a great play by him,” Novak said of the feed from Barron. “It’s a really good heads-up play by him to just give me the open net and put it in. A great forecheck by [Luke Evangelista], and great pass by [Barron] there.”
In the second stanza, it was Saros and Nashville’s penalty kill that played starring roles, including the Preds killing off 1:54 of a Winnipeg 5-on-3 power-play opportunity to bring the Bridgestone Arena crowd out of their seats.
“[The penalty kill] was key,” Nyquist said. “That gave us a lot of momentum. I thought they were probably pressing a little harder in the second [period], and then [we had] that kill, and I thought we had a real strong third period, to be honest with you, and got the job done. But I think that set the tone for the third with a big kill there.”
“You saw what it did to the crowd, and the bench was even more wild,” Forsberg said. “I thought that was a huge momentum swing when we came up clutch when we really had to.”
That 2-1 score held into the final period, and with Nashville’s captain, Roman Josi, out due to injury, Saros continued to put forth a classic performance to lead his club to a satisfying victory.
“It's a big win, obviously,” Novak said. “They played last night, and you want to win those. So, good on us to break the streak they had going, and hopefully [we’ll] keep it going into the road trip.”
With the month of February set to conclude, the Predators now have another road trip in front of them, and there’s plenty of good they’d like to take with them from Thursday’s showing with the final full month of the regular season ahead.
“That’s how it’s going to have to be,” Nyquist said. “We’ve got some guys out…but we’ve got big opportunities for other guys stepping in. And we know the position we're in, but at the same time, we’ve got to have pride here and finish the season off strong.”
Notes:
Preds Captain Roman Josi did not dress on Thursday and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. With Josi absent, Steven Stamkos served as an alternate captain with the third ‘A’ to join Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly in the role.
Prior to Thursday’s game, the Predators recalled defenseman Marc Del Gaizo from Milwaukee and reassigned defenseman Jake Livingstone. Del Gaizo played in his first game with the Preds since December.
With their four-game homestand now complete, the Preds will jet off to New York City for a weekend set against the Islanders on Saturday (11:30 a.m. CT) and the Rangers on Sunday (6 p.m. CT) before finishing the trip Tuesday in Boston.
