Nashville Predators: Rinne and Saros Shine in Western Canada

Saros at Edmonton

Saros was a brick wall against the Oilers on Thursday night. The 22-year-old, who had struggled for much of the early parts of the season, was on fire against Edmonton. He recorded a 46 save shutout, the most saves in a shutout in Predators history.

Saros was in net to keep Rinne from having to go back-to-back nights. Saros was busy early, as he faced 22 shots in a lopsided first period. He kept the Predators alive, as the team was beat in every aspect of the game, in the beginning. With superstars like Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, it seemed that eventually, Saros would cave. However, the youngster never did.

He faced the most shots that the Predators have given up this year, and was phenomenal from start to finish.

The Oilers had double-digit shots each period, yet Saros never broke. The Oilers pounded him all night from all angles, but could never sneak one by Saros. He controlled rebounds better than ever before, and frustrated McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins, who have tallied a total of 63 points so far this season.

Saros was about as busy as possible, as the Oilers finished the game with 57.3% Corsi rating, meaning that they controlled almost they entire game, in Nashville’s zone. They were firing shots at Saros the whole night, and making his job tough.

Despite the lopsided game, Nashville prevailed, and teammates and coaches accredited Saros with the victory.