Saros sets Predators record with 64 saves in win against Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Juuse Saros set a Nashville Predators record when he made 64 saves in a 5-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Thursday.

Saros,
who was named
to the 2023 Honda NHL All-Star Game during the game, stopped all 28 shots he faced in the third period. Mark Jankowski scored the go-ahead goal at 5:06 when he deflected Ryan Johansen's shot from the right-side boards to make it 4-3.
"Some nights you need to pull puck luck there. It was all different [shots]," Saros said. "That was kind of the theme of the game, and they're that kind of a team too, so I had to guess it was not going to slow down (in the third period)."

Juuso Parssinen had two assists for the Predators (17-14-6), who twice erased a one-goal deficit and are 5-1-2 in the past eight games.
"We're a resilient group," Jankowski said. "Any time we get down like that, we know what we're capable of. We don't panic, we just bounce back. 'Juice' was unbelievable. He's an All-Star for a reason. That was an unbelievable game by him."
Brett Pesce had two assists for the Hurricanes (25-8-6), who have lost two in a row after an 11-game winning streak. Pyotr Kochetkov made 20 saves.
"We played a good game. I'm not going to put any negative on this," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "You put up [67] shots, you've got to win the game. What you've got to do is give credit where credit is due. [Saros] played as good a game in the net as you're ever going to see. That's the story."

Paul Stastny gave Carolina a 1-0 lead on a power play at 7:41 of the first period when he redirected Pesce's shot from just inside the blue line.
Filip Forsberg answered for Nashville with a power-play goal at 10:29 when he took a backhand pass from Juuso Parssinen and scored on a short-side wrist shot to tie it 1-1.
Brady Skjei gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead 35 seconds into the second period. Pesce took a cross-ice pass from Martin Necas and skated around Forsberg before passing to Skjei in the slot for a redirect.
Mattias Ekholm fired a slap shot from the top of the right face-off circle to tie it 2-2 at 2:47.
"In the first 40 minutes, I thought there was plays to be made. I thought we did some of them," Ekholm said. "But we had a goaltender that stood on his head and kept us in there, and at the end we land the final punch.
"This is a hard building to come out of with points. We've seen what they've done as of late, so we're really happy with the points."

Jordan Staal put Carolina back in front 3-2 at 9:54. After a Predators turnover in the neutral zone, Jesper Fast set up Staal, who drove the net and scored over the glove of Saros.
"We had the puck most of the game," Staal said. "We created a lot of offense obviously, but we always got to play some tight defense if you want to win in this league."
Cody Glass tied it 3-3 at 11:55 when Mikael Granlund made a wraparound pass from behind the net to Glass for a tap-in at the left post.
Colton Sissons scored an empty-net goal with three seconds remaining for the 5-3 final.
"Juice played really well," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "They had a lot of pressure on him, and he made multiple big saves. He's one of the stars of our team and he played like that tonight."

Max Pacioretty had six shots on goal in 16:06 of ice time in his Hurricanes debut. The 34-year-old forward was acquired in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights on July 13 and had surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon Aug. 10.
"My energy was there," Pacioretty said. "A lot of credit [goes] to the staff here that kind of built me up, and the coaches here, to get me to that point. So, I personally felt really good.
"You'd like to put one of those opportunities in when your legs are going like that."
NOTES: Carolina forward Andrei Svechnikov was also named to the All-Star Game. … Saros became the fourth goalie to make at least 64 saves in a regular-season game since 1955-56, joining Ron Tugnutt (70 on March 21, 1991), Mario Lessard (65 on March 24, 1981) and Joe Daley (64 on Dec. 10, 1970). The Hurricanes' 67 shots were the most in an NHL game this season. … Sissons (three goals, two assists) and Josi (two goals, three assists) each extended their point streaks to four games. … Nino Niederreiter played against Carolina for the first time since the forward signed a two-year contract with Nashville on July 21. He had 137 points (69 goals, 68 assists) for the Hurricanes from 2019-22. … Necas extended his point streak to seven games (four goals, four assists).