Smashville Scope: Juuse Saros Shines at NHL All-Star Weekend

As the Nashville Predators enjoyed a well-deserved break last week, goaltender Juuse Saros headed to Sunrise, Fla., to represent the Preds at the 2023 NHL All-Star Game.
The highlight of the weekend's festivities came on Friday night, when Saros and Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck set aside their in-season rivalry to
capture a win for the Central Division
in the inaugural Discover NHL Tendy Tandem competition at the 2023 NHL All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook.
As the Preds get ready to return to game action this week, take a look back at Saros' big weekend in South Florida and more:

All-Staros Weekend

In his second career NHL All-Star appearance, Saros teamed up with Hellebuyck to win the debut of the Tendy Tandem challenge with 13 points, best among the four pairs of goalies. They beat out the Pacific Division duo of Logan Thompson (Vegas Golden Knights) and Stuart Skinner (Edmonton Oilers), who had 11 points.
"It was cool to see some new faces and nice to win the skills [challenge]," Saros said, smiling as he added, "I've got to keep practicing my shooting."
Saros went on to make 12 saves in Saturday's first semifinal game for the Central Division, which won for the second time in six games against the Pacific since the NHL adopted the current All-Star Game format in 2016.

A 6-4 win in the semifinal propelled Saros and the Central Division squad to the final, where they fell 7-5 to the ultimate champion Atlantic Division.
Despite the loss, Saros made memories to last a lifetime at the event and looks forward to getting back to Nashville to kick off the second half of the season with his Preds teammates.
"We were playing good hockey before the break, so hopefully we can keep that going," Saros said. "We have a lot of big hockey games coming up, so I'm excited to get back."

Milwaukee Admirals Update

The Milwaukee Admirals snapped their three-game win streak with a 2-1 loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Tuesday. Over the weekend, however, the team earned a clean sweep of the Manitoba Moose. The 2-1 victory on Friday was goalie Yaroslav Askarov's 15th win of the season, and Saturday's 5-4 win saw Zach Sanford score the overtime game-winner and Keifer Sherwood score his 20th goal of the season.
The AHL enters their All-Star Break this week with games returning the following weekend. Forward Luke Evangelista will represent the Admirals at the AHL All-Star Classic this week in Laval, Quebec.

Predators Official Podcast

Darren McFarland and Kara Hammer catch up with longtime hockey writer Kevin Allen. Allen has been covering the NHL for over 35 years and discusses All-Star weekend, the health of the league and an article he wrote in the USA Today newspaper on then Predators player Jordin Tootoo in his hometown of Nunavut.
Darren and Kara also catch up with Emma Lingan in Sunrise, Fla., covering All-Star weekend. She talks about what players around the league are saying about Juuse Saros.

Coming Soon to Bridgestone Arena

Feb. 7: Vegas Golden Knights vs. Nashville Predators
Feb. 8: GnashVegas Casino Night & Auction
Feb. 9: Andrea Bocelli in concert for Valentine's
Feb. 13: Arizona Coyotes vs. Nashville Predators
For more information on events and tickets, click
here
.
Haley Hart contributed reporting to this story.