Saros, Predators hold off Coyotes for fourth win in row

GLENDALE, Ariz. --Juuse Saros made 38 saves to help the Nashville Predators to their fourth straight win, 4-2 against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Saturday.

"I think there's no better goalie in the world than him. Every night, he's giving us a chance to win," Nashville defenseman Roman Josi said. "It's kind of unbelievable how consistent he is. I think he's almost underappreciated."
Josi had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Johansen had two assists for Nashville (23-11-2), which is 11-1-1 in its past 13 games and was without Filip Forsberg after the forward was placed in NHL COVID-19 protocol prior to the game.
"I give the leaders of the team a lot of credit, they did a good job and I think the team, in general, was certainly ready to play," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "I thought the guys did what they needed to do tonight to win the hockey game."

Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse each scored in the third period, and Karel Vejmelka made 25 saves for Arizona (7-23-3), which has lost nine of its past 11 games (2-8-1).
Mattias Ekholm scored 56 seconds into the game off a rebound of Luke Kunin's shot on an odd-man rush to give the Predators a 1-0 lead.
Yakov Trenin scored for the third straight game to make it 2-0 at 17:20. He shot through a screen from along the right wall during a 4-on-4.
Tanner Jeannot scored his 11th goal of the season, the most among NHL rookies, off a backdoor pass from Matt Duchene to extend the lead to 3-0 at 18:56.
"That first period wasn't up to our expectations of what we want night in and night out," Arizona forward Andrew Ladd. "We were way too passive in all parts of our game and allowed them to take control of the puck."
Keller made it 3-1 at 2:19 of the third period by pushing the puck forward on an offensive zone face-off and scoring over the shoulder of Saros from along the goal line.
Josi scored on the power play at 7:25 to make it 4-1 before Crouse scored at 10:48 for the 4-2 final.
"I think the problem is the way we started, we didn't play well in the first period," Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. "We showed a lot of character and a lot of pushback, but when you trail 3-0 against a first-position team, it's not that easy mentally."

The Coyotes outshot the Predators 28-10 in the final two periods, and Saros stopped breakaways by Nick Schmaltz in the first period and Travis Boyd in the third to win his fourth straight start and ninth in his past 10 games.
"We wanted to make sure we played a good game, and I thought we came out and played well in the first period," Josi said. "I think we took our foot off the gas and they made a push, but we found a way to win it."
Nashville was 1-for-6 on the power play while Arizona was 0-for-6, four of which came in the first period. The game had a total of 86 penalty minutes, 48 on the Coyotes.
"We play hard and that frustrates guys on their side, and it was another case of it tonight," Johansen said. "That usually means you're doing a good job when you have the lead and they're frustrated, talking a lot."
NOTES: Saros was 3-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .954 save percentage (125 saves on 131 shots) during the Predators' three-game road trip against the Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings and Coyotes. … Josi has scored 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his past five games against Arizona, including three goals in two games this season. … Nashville is 15-0-0 when leading after the first period. ... Riley Nash, a forward claimed off waivers from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, made his Coyotes debut and had an assist on Crouse's goal. … Arizona forward Barrett Hayton (hand) did not play. … The last time the Predators played the Coyotes at Gila River Arena was Oct. 17, 2019 (a 5-2 loss).