Saros shuts out Oilers in Predators' fifth straight win

EDMONTON -- Juuse Saros made 31 saves, including 18 in the third period, and the Nashville Predators won their fifth straight game with a 3-0 victory against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Saturday.

P.K. Subban, Viktor Arvidsson and Roman Josi scored for the Predators (7-1-0), who have won 13 straight games against the Oilers.
It was the fifth shutout of Saros' NHL career.
WATCH: [All Predators vs. Oilers highlights]
"We knew before the game they had lots of talent, so we had to be solid in the defensive zone," Saros said. "I think we were that today and our penalty kill was really great too."
Goalie Cam Talbot made 25 saves for the Oilers (3-3-0), whose three-game winning streak ended.
"I thought we played a pretty hard, solid game, not enough offense, but we checked, we skated, we battled, we had a better start," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "The two-minute phase in the second period really hurt us. I didn't think our power play was quite as sharp either. We were the best penalty killers on the ice. In most situations, we killed a lot of our own plays until the last one where we had some chances."
Subban scored shorthanded at 13:14 of the second period when the Predators defenseman collected a loose puck near the Oilers blue line and went on a 2-on-1 rush with forward Ryan Hartman. Subban kept the puck and shot it past Talbot to give Nashville a 1-0 lead. It was the first shorthanded goal of Subban's NHL career.

"It was fun to see him flying down the ice and scoring that goal," Saros said. "I know that was a big goal for us."
The Predators held the Oilers to four shots on goal in the first period.
"People talk about our ability to jump in the rush and generate offense, but we take pride in trying to make it as easy as we can on our goaltenders," Subban said. "It's tough to play against us when we're moving our feet and getting backs to puck."
Arvidsson extended the lead to 2-0 at 14:42 of the second period with a shot from the left face-off circle. Josi scored into an empty net at 19:07 of the third to make it 3-0.

"We're playing good at this moment," Saros said. "We have to take it game by game, but right now it's going well."
Edmonton outshot Nashville 27-21 over the final two periods. It was the first time in four games the Oilers did not score a power-play goal.
"Our sharpness want there," Oilers forward Milan Lucic said. "Our effort was there and our legs were going, but maybe we were over stickhandling. The sharpness on the tape-to-tape passes wasn't there today. I thought our effort was pretty good, but sometimes good isn't good enough, especially against the elite teams in the League."

They said it

"We'll count our blessings. When you hear a guy like (Sidney) Crosby call him the best in the world, it says a lot. Collectively as a five-man unit, we did a god job of trying to keep him to the outside. When he did come into the middle, swarm him as quickly as you can." -- Predators defenseman P.K. Subban on shutting down Oilers center Connor McDavid
"They are a really strong team, a good defensive team. They don't spend much energy, they don't waste energy. They are so good at defending and we couldn't really find a way to get more pressure on them." --- Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl

Need to know

Saros has not allowed goal in two career starts against the Oilers; he made 46 saves in a 4-0 win last season on Dec. 14, 2017. … Predators forwards Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen each had a four-game point streak end. … Edmonton's 13-game losing streak against Nashville (0-11-2) dates to Oct. 29, 2014. They have been shut out in five of the past 11 games against the Predators. … It's the first time this season McDavid (four goals, seven assists) did not have at least one point. He had a five-game point streak end.

What's next

Predators: Host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; SN1, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)