Can Juuse Saros turn it around?
Not the ideal start for Saros, even if it’s not all his fault. The defense in front of him has been equally horrendous in his three starts, all ending in Predators losses. It’s still just three starts and a small sample size that’s not worthy of creating too much panic, if any.
Now the question arises if he can reverse his fortunes and get his numbers back up to where you can be confident starting him ahead of a red-hot Pekka Rinne. Load management is important to factor in for the 36-year-old Rinne, but not at the cost of losing games because Saros isn’t playing well.
Saros has always left me pretty confident that he can give the team a good chance to win when he starts in place of Rinne to give him rest. If Saros continues to struggle in his next start, whether it’s all his fault or not, then I’ll start gradually being a little less confident. Will the team have to give Rinne more starts than they initially planned due to losing confidence in Saros. We’re not there yet, but we definitely need a solid start from Saros very soon to get some confidence back.