Saros makes 31 saves, Predators edge Senators

OTTAWA -- Juuse Saros made 31 saves for the Nashville Predators in a 4-1 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Monday.

Saros made 12 saves in the third period, including a desperation glove save on Tim Stutzle at the edge of the crease to keep it 2-0 at 15:30.

“He’s an elite goaltender for a reason,” Nashville forward Jonathan Marchessault said of Saros. “He’s giving us a chance to win every night and that’s the beauty of having quality goaltending like that. I mean, we’re definitely lucky to have him. He was unbelievable tonight, especially in the third period, that save he did on Stutzle. It’s a hell of a player to make a save on like that.”

Marchessault had two goals, and Ryan O'Reilly scored for the Predators (2-0-1).

“It’s a greasy road win,” O’Reilly said. “It wasn’t pretty, but we stuck with it. When things weren’t going well, we kept fighting. Obviously, ‘Juice’ was unbelievable again, made the huge saves when we needed him to. But all in all, we kept fighting.”

Ridly Greig scored, and Linus Ullmark made 22 saves for the Senators (1-2-0) in their home opener.

“Sometimes you run into a hot goaltender,” Ullmark said. “I’ve been on that side of the coin, as well, plenty of times in my career. You’ve got to give credit to Juuse, as well, he played a stellar game. We had our opportunities and unfortunately we didn’t bury them.”

Ottawa was 6-for-6 on the penalty kill after going 3-for-8 in its first two games of the season.

“From my point of view, it felt like we were a little bit more sure about what we were doing,” Ullmark said of the penalty kill. “There was less hesitation from everybody; everybody went where we were supposed to go. Putting pressure, having a little bit more swagger to it, not allowing them to make criss-cross passes or setting up plays.”

The Senators thought they scored when Jake Sanderson beat Saros over the right shoulder with a snap shot at 6:05 of the second period, but the Predators challenged for goaltender interference and the call on the ice was overturned.

“I guess I felt it was not super close,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “They went through the crease. And maybe the timing, maybe if it was a longer time, but he went and he bumped into ‘Juice,’ not inadvertently, he went through the blue crease and hit him and as the puck was coming. To me, that was a pretty easy call, that it was goalie interference.”

Marchessault gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 12:11 of the first period when he accepted a pass from Michael Bunting down low and tucked it between Ullmark’s pads.

“Just a good road win,” Marchessault said. “Obviously, we had a couple stretches where I think we could’ve done a better job. I mean, I thought, overall, our power play could’ve helped out a little better tonight. I think we’ve got to put teams away in those situations when you get a power play in the third period and stuff like that. But overall, I think a good way to win a hockey game. I mean, we played pretty tight; we don’t give up too much.”

O’Reilly scored on a drop pass from Steven Stamkos on a 3-on-2 rush to push it to 2-0 at 14:38 of the third period.

Dylan Cozens’ centering pass redirected in off of Greig’s skate in front of the net on a power play to cut it to 2-1 at 17:57.

“We played a pretty good game,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “Sometimes you can play a decent game and lose, play a good game and lose. I thought their goalie was extremely sharp, looked like he was going to be hard to beat.”

Marchessault and Cole Smith each scored empty-net goals 42 seconds apart in the final minute of the game for the 4-1 final.

“A little frustrating,” Sanderson said. “I thought we played a good game and a good enough game to win. But that happens sometimes. You’ve got to look forward to the next one.”

NOTES: Nashville forwards Erik Haula and Filip Forsberg each had an assist to extend his point streak to three games. … Senators captain Brady Tkachuk did not play the final 9:04 of the third period due to an injury he sustained from a Roman Josi crosscheck in the first period. He was seen postgame with a bag of ice on his right wrist. … Defenseman Jordan Spence was minus-2 in 17:44 of ice time in his Ottawa debut. … Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven had one shot and three blocks in 13:53 of ice time in his season debut.