Saros, Special Teams Lead Preds to Victory in Vancouver

Juuse Saros stopped 26 shots, Philip Tomasino tallied what proved to be the game-winner and the Nashville Predators defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a 3-2 final on Friday night at Rogers Arena. The result gets the Preds back in the win column after a loss on Wednesday and gives them victories in five of their last six outings overall, including two on their current six-game trip.
Nashville scored twice on the power play, their penalty kill was a perfect 5-for-5 and Saros was himself once more to lead the Preds to win No. 6 on the campaign.

Just five minutes into Friday's contest, Nashville's power play went to work, and a Roman Josi blast from the point found its way past Vancouver goaltender Thatcher Demko to give the Preds a 1-0 lead. However, Brock Boeser and the Canucks evened the score with just nine seconds to play in the opening frame, and midway through the second stanza, Nils Hoglander beat Saros to give the home team their first lead of the night.

But just over two minutes after that, Mikael Granlund hit a streaking Matt Duchene, and No. 95 converted on a beautiful backhand deke on a breakaway to even the score at two with his third goal in four games. Then, on another man advantage late in the frame, Luke Kunin found Tomasino, and the rookie buried his third of the season to give Nashville the go-ahead goal.

It appeared as though the Canucks were destined to tie the game midway through the third, but Saros made the best of his 26 saves on the evening to rob Vasily Podkolzin from the right circle, and that was as close as Vancouver came.
Granlund finished the night with a pair of assists, while Kunin, Eeli Tolvanen and Tommy Novak also added a helper each on the power play.

Friday Storyline:

In a back-and-forth affair, the Preds found a way, thanks to excellent special teams and elite goaltending.
Perhaps Granlund summed up the performance of Saros best: "He's a stud."
That was all Granlund chose to say - and nothing more was needed.
Just as he did during Tuesday's overtime win in Calgary, Saros was there when his team needed him, and the netminder played a notable factor in Nashville's victory on Friday night.
"He makes big saves at big times, and that's what elite goaltenders do," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said of Saros. "You can't win without great goaltending, and I think we've had that for pretty much all year, whether it's been Juice or when Connor [Ingram] had come in and played well, but it's always nice to see just the consistency that he's playing with, the confidence that he's playing with. Again, tonight he made big saves at big times, and that's what you need from your goalie."
When Saros and his teammates weren't denying Vancouver on the penalty kill - Nashville was a perfect 5-for-5 on turning away the Canucks on the man advantage - they were finding success on the power play once more, and Tomasino's strike late in the second proved to be the game-winner in the end.
"All the boys were kind of telling me on the bench to just keep sticking with it, and I was lucky enough that [Kunin] made an unbelievable backdoor pass and I was lucky enough to bury that one," Tomasino said. "That was a big goal. Our special teams were huge, our power play was good as well tonight, so it was nice to get the power-play goal."
"On the power play, we talked about some different things, but they continue to be able to execute," Hynes said. "As we all know, special teams are such a big part of the game, and it's nice to see both units building chemistry, building some confidence, because there's production, but also building the identities of each special team."
All in all, the evening ended with a satisfying result, and four points in four nights throughout Western Canada isn't a bad way to spend the first half of a six-game road trip.
"It wasn't the most beautiful game probably, but we found a way to win, and we have the one guy in the net who keeps making these saves and keeping us in the game," Granlund said. "It's a big road win for us."

Highlight of the Night:

They Said It:

Philip Tomasino on the play that led to his power-play goal:
"[There's been] lots of practice for sure, but we kind of talked about it on the bench, and we were actually talking about going to Novak, to Kunin, to me backdoor right before I scored that goal. So, it was funny that it ended up working out. We've practiced it a lot in practice, but it was kind of funny, because we'd just talked about doing that play and it ended up working out. So, it was a cool moment and a great goal for us, for sure."

Notes:

Friday night marked Preds forward Rocco Grimaldi's 200th career NHL game.
Goaltender David Rittich returned to the Nashville lineup on Friday and backed up Juuse Saros after spending time on the NHL's COVID list since Oct. 16. Filip Forsberg (upper body, week-to-week) and Mark Borowiecki (upper body, day-to-day) remained out of the lineup in Vancouver. Defenseman Philippe Myers was also scratched.
Nashville's stint in Western Canada is now complete, and they'll head to Chicago in advance of a Sunday evening matchup with the Blackhawks at the United Center, the fourth of six games on their current road trip.