Nashville Predators: Rinne and Saros Shine in Western Canada

Pekka Rinne, Juuse Saros, and the Nashville Predators stood tall during their three-game road trip in Western Canada.

A week and a half ago, the Nashville Predators were outdueled by the Vegas Golden Knights in a shootout, in Nashville. Despite gaining a point, the Predators three-game win streak was ended. Following that loss, Nashville headed up north for a trio of Canadian games, in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary.

With a tough three-game stretch, filled with young superstar opponents, the Predators’ defense answered the bell in Canada. Pekka Rinne, Juuse Saros, and company allowed only one goal in three games, and led Nashville to a clean sweep on their road trip.

Despite being outshot in two of their three games, Rinne and Saros were stout and gave Nashville the chance to win. Rinne started games one and three, in Vancouver and Calgary. Saros started game two in Edmonton.

Rinne At Vancouver

In game one in Vancouver, Rinne stopped 25 of 26 shots in a stellar performance. All of his effort wasn’t truly needed though, as the Predators routed the Canucks 7-1, in a 48 shot night. Although there were few high danger chances, Rinne was able to shut down Brock Boeser, Daniel Sedin, and Henrik Sedin, all of whom are very talented, dangerous scorers.

You can see from the shot heat map, that Rinne was forced to make some big saves from right in front of the net.

Similarly, the Predators tallied 30 penalty minutes, so Rinne spent a fair part of the game, short-staffed. Even though the lone Vancouver goal was on the power play, Pekka was still very solid all night.

Rinne was smothering rebounds, controlling the flow of the game behind the net, and not giving Vancouver anything to work with.

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.

Rinne and Calgary

On the final leg of the road trip, Rinne extinguished the Flames for his third shutout of the season. He stopped all 32 shots that he faced, and kept the Predators in a game that was much tighter than the 2-0 score suggested. Flames like Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan are among the best scorers in the league. Despite their skills, the two could only muster a combined three shots on Rinne.

Many of the Flames’ 32 shots came from low-danger areas, making Rinne’s night easier than the 32 shots suggest.

Rinne’s shutout was most impressive because of the flow of the game. Saros said his 46 save shutout was easy, because the shots were constant, and he was able to just get into the flow of the game. Rinne’s 32 save shutout came mostly in the first and third period, leaving gaps in between rushes and bursts of shots. Times like those, when goalies are out of the action for a few minutes at a time, can prove deadly.

Despite the lack of action at times, Rinne was stellar, and once again made his case for age just being a number. Rinne controlled his rebounds, a problem that often plagues him, and left the Flames with few extra chances.

A Healthy Trend

After that three game span, the Predators are very confident with what they have in net. Despite giving up the 8th most shots per game in the NHL, Rinne and Saros are picking up the slack. Rinne has been rock solid almost the entire year. Saros was a different story early on, as he struggled mightily for his first few starts. However, in his last four starts, Saros has looked like an NHL goalie. The mistakes that he made in his first three starts were corrected, and he gave the Predators a great chance to win.

In his last four starts, Saros has a .949 save percentage, and is only allowing 2.0 goals per game. With an offense that is as explosive and deep as the Predators, those numbers will win almost every night.

Rinne has been the backbone of the Nashville Predators all season. Furthermore, he has been at his best since the start of November. He is 13-3-1, and has posted a .923 save percentage and 2.47 GAA, since November 1st. Rinne has already recorded 3 shutouts this year, matching his total in 61 starts last season.

He has been making youthful saves night in, and night out, at 35 years old. Rinne has been unbeatable in Nashville, and very solid on the road too. He proved it once again with two outstanding starts, far away from his net in Bridgestone Arena.

During this road trip, Rinne and Saros were excellent. They let in one total goal, and were able to frustrate some of the best scorers in the league. That is a good sight to see if you’re a Predators fan.