Juuse Saros, Predators blank Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Juuse Saros made 25 saves for his first NHL shutout, and the Nashville Predators defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-0 at Scottrade Center on Friday.
Yannick Weber, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson scored in the second period for the Predators (16-14-6), who ended a three-game losing streak by winning their third straight road game.
"Of course it was really nice and guys played really good in front of me, and I think we just played a really smart game," said Saros, who played his seventh NHL game. "I think it really gives us hope in the future and kind of shows just what kind of team we are, so it's a big thing."

The Blues (19-13-5) lost their final game before playing the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Busch Stadium on Monday.
WATCH: All Predators vs. Blues highlights
"No, we're not going to use that as an excuse," St. Louis captain Alex Pietrangelo said. "We've been going about our business as normal."
Weber scored his first of the season, and first in 81 games, on a wrist shot to give the Predators a 1-0 lead at 4:52.

"It was just nice to contribute to the win," said Weber, who last scored April 9, 2015. "We knew after back-to-back coming to St. Louis, it was not going to be an easy game, and to get that first one, it was a nice pass play by [Craig] Smith. If you get that opportunity, you've got to put in the back of the net."
Forsberg scored a power-play goal at 7:26 to make it 2-0, and Arvidsson got around defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to make it 3-0 at 17:36.

"We really hit the skids when it went 2-0," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Lost our energy and lost our focus. I don't know. Disappointing."
Blues goalie Jake Allen made 11 saves and was replaced at the start of the third period by Carter Hutton, who allowed a power-play goal to Colin Wilson at 8:08 of the third off a rebound.

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Goal of the game

Arvidsson pulled the puck through his legs and around Bouwmeester, then avoided the poke-check of Allen to score.
"I've tried it before in practices and stuff, some games, but I haven't been able to put it in the net," Arvidsson said. "So it was nice to see it go in. I just felt I had a little more speed than the [defense]. That was it."

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Save of the game

Saros stopped Blues left wing Jaden Schwartz with 9:16 remaining in the first period to keep the game 0-0.

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Highlight of the game

The Predators weren't able to score on a two-man advantage in the second period but continued to pressure in the Blues zone before Forsberg was able to one-time a rebound.

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Unsung performance of the game

Predators defenseman Roman Josi didn't have a point but played a game-high 27:05 after playing 29:24 in a 3-2 home loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday. Josi attempted nine shots (two on goal) and had two hits.

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They said it

"Maybe, but myself no, and other guys no because it is a couple days away. If it was right away, but with two days in between, you have a lot of time before and you want to have a good game because you have those two days to think about it. You're only as good as your last game. We were just flat. You saw it, we saw it." -- Blues center Paul Stastny on if St. Louis was looking ahead to Monday

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Need to know

Forsberg's goal was his fifth in six games; he had three in the first 30. ... It was the first time the Blues were shut out at home since Nov. 3, 2015 (3-0 by the Los Angeles Kings).

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What's next

Predators: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, RDS, SNE, NHL.TV)
Blues: Host the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2017 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Busch Stadium on Monday (1 p.m. ET; NBC, TVA Sports, SN, NHL.TV)