Jarnkrok Tallies Twice, Saros Stars in Return as Preds Beat Panthers

Calle Jarnkrok tallied twice, and Juuse Saros was nearly perfect in his return, as the Nashville Predators defeated the Florida Panthers by a 2-1 final on Thursday night at BB&T Center. The result gives the Preds a pair of victories in the second half of their franchise-record eight-game road trip and their second win over the Panthers in five tries this season.
Jarnkrok's two-goal performance came after a four-point outing in Monday's win over Tampa Bay, and Saros was back in the net after missing seven games due to an upper-body injury. Those two will get plenty of credit, but once again, the Preds were able to grind out another road win against one of the top teams in the NHL standings.

"[Our effort tonight wasn't] as good as [Monday's 4-1 win against the Lightning] - I thought [Saros] had to bail us out too many times today - but we got the two points, so we're happy about that," Jarnkrok said.
"It's nice to be back, and [I felt] good out there," Saros said. "It was a gutsy game from us… we just stuck [with it] there, and it's a good, character win."

Jonathan Huberdeau scored the game's first goal to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes, but then Jarnkrok went to work.
His first came at 7:25 of the second stanza when he batted a puck out of the air from the slot past goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, and No. 19 got his second of the night - and ninth of the season - fewer than two minutes into the third when he capitalized on a turnover to give the Preds their first lead of the evening.

"It's nice to see him be able to get rewarded for the opportunities he's getting," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said of Jarnkrok. "And when he's getting his opportunities, he's bearing down. You don't score if you're not in those scoring areas and you're not finishing your chances, but it's how he goes about his business. The way he practices is the same way he plays in the game, and that's why he's been able to execute as well as he has."

Jarnkrok's offensive production gave the Predators all the cushion they needed, and Saros finished with 40 saves on the night - including 13 in the final frame.
"It was nice to see him play the way that he did, and you could see yesterday in practice, to be honest with you, that he was ready," Hynes said of Saros. "He was very good in practice yesterday. He was sharp, and it was nice to see him come in, and I think it was a huge boost to the team that he came in and played the way that he played. You could feel it on the bench, and he came up with some big saves for us and that's what you need. You have to have .915, .920 goaltending [save] percentages in this League to win every night, so it's good to have it."
With Thursday's victory in Florida, the Preds now find themselves 3-2-1 through six outings on their trip. The group is still dealing with a number of injuries, and as has been the case over the past two weeks, a number of young players have continued to step up to give Nashville a chance to win each time out on the excursion.
There is still plenty of work to do along the way, but as the trip winds down, the Preds continue to play some of their best hockey all season, and the results are coming too.
"Our puck possession, our pursuit on the puck in [high-danger] areas is really strong, and then we've done a better job of getting into those Grade-A areas," Hynes said. "It's something that we've emphasized all year long, but I think since we started this road trip, the group of players that have been in the lineup every night, these guys are really playing a committed game. They're playing at the level, offensively and defensively, it takes to win regularly in the League."

Notes:
Defensemen Alexandre Carrier and Ben Harpur were recalled from the taxi squad prior to Thursday's game in Florida. Carrier recorded his first-career assist on Jarnkrok's first goal.
Saros's 40 saves on the night were just two shy of tying a season-high.
Nashville's two-game set with the Panthers concludes on Saturday afternoon in Sunrise with a 1 p.m. CT start. The Predators will then head to Dallas to finish up their eight-game trip with a Sunday evening matchup (at 7:30 p.m.) against the Stars.