No Bull: Preds Shut Out Oilers, Sweep Alberta Back-to-Back

They swept Alberta - no bull.
P.K. Subban potted a shorthanded goal and Juuse Saros stopped all 31 shots he faced, as the Nashville Predators shut out the Edmonton Oilers, 3-0, on Saturday night at Rogers Place.
The result give the Preds a sweep of Alberta, Canada, during their first back-to-back set of games this season, including a win over the Flames in Calgary on Friday. It's Nashville's fifth consecutive victory overall, as well as their 13th-straight triumph against the Oilers.

"We knew before the game they have lots of talent, so we tried to be solid in the defensive zone," Saros said. "We were today, and our penalty kill was great today, too."
Nashville scored at least three goals for the fifth consecutive contest, but it was the defensive effort from the visitors to keep Connor McDavid and the Oilers off the scoresheet that was equally impressive.
"We'll count our blessings," Subban said of holding McDavid at bay. "He's an explosive player… What else can you say about him? All you have to do is just watch him out there. He's so fast and he makes quick plays but I thought we [were able to manage him]."
After a scoreless opening period, Subban called his own number during a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush to put Nashville ahead 1-0 midway through the second. The defenseman fired a low wrister far side for the first shorthanded goal of his career, and things finally got going for the visitors.

Roughly 90 seconds later, Viktor Arvidsson hit Nick Bonino with a pass and the center went right back to Arvidsson, who beat Oilers netminder Cam Talbot with a quick shot. After a quiet 33 minutes for both clubs, the Predators pounced on the momentum boost from Subban's play and exited the second period up two goals to none.
Edmonton had their best offensive chances in the final frame, but Saros and the Preds combined to give the young netminder his fifth career shutout, and Roman Josi sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute.

Just moments after the final horn sounded and the Preds retreated to their locker room, their head coach emerged sporting a bull head for his postgame media availability.
You see, Peter Laviolette made a bet with his players that if they swept the back-to-back trip through Calgary and Edmonton, he would make good on his end of the bargain. Challenge accepted.

"I've said it before, Lavi is an amazing person and a fun person to work with every day," Subban said of his coach. "Good on him to hold up his end of the bet. For us as a team, it's an 82-game season, and it can be a long season. But when you're coming on the road on a back-to-back with a 5-1-0 record, it's a little extra motivation and we're having some fun, but good on him."

Shorty Get Down:
Even just seeing P.K. Subban charging up the ice with the puck and open space ahead of him felt a little out of place for the offensively gifted defenseman. Perhaps, in the moment, the blueliner felt like he was a child again skating in the outdoor rinks of Canada.
Positional discrepancy or not, Subban did it all himself during his second period, 2-on-1 rush, with the Predators down a man, and registered the first shorthanded goal of his career.
He had to shoot, right? When would he ever have a chance like that again?
"I have to be honest, I felt like [NHL legend and two-time, 50-goal scorer] Peter Bondra coming down the wing there, just high stepping, quick snap," Subban joked. "Probably don't look for me to do that too much, but I tired to work on my footwork and my speed this summer and it was a perfect opportunity to get up there. I just jumped in and tried to make a play and luckily it went in for me."

Notes:
Prior to the game, Preds goaltender Pekka Rinne was placed on Injured Reserve.
Miroslav Svoboda was recalled from the ECHL
to serve as the backup netminder to Juuse Saros.
Frederick Gaudreau entered the Predators' lineup in favor of Miikka Salomaki, who was a healthy scratch, and played his third game of the season.
Nashville has won 13 consecutive games against Edmonton, its longest active winning streak against an opponent. Nashville's streak began with a 4-1 win over Edmonton on Oct. 29, 2014. During the streak, the Preds have outscored the Oilers 40-15 and limited them to two-or-fewer goals 12 times, including five shutouts.
P.K. Subban has tallied 18 points (3g-15a) in 17 career games against Edmonton, including five points in his last five games (1g-4a).