The Nashville Predators had every reason to lose their Tuesday night matchup with the Los Angeles Kings. It was the first game of a West Coast swing, with three of their best players in Toronto for Pekka Rinne's Hockey Hall of Fame induction 24 hours earlier, needing to fly across the continent, coming off wins against some of the league's best teams over the past two weeks, and prime for a letdown.
Instead of chalking it up as a loss and moving on, the Predators put forth a dominant effort, shutting out the Kings 3-0 in a game where those same players who could've been up for ridicule by making that Toronto trip did everything they could to avoid any blowback from the fans.
Juuse Saros honored his former Hall of Fame teammate Rinne perfectly, stopping all 30 shots fired his way, while Filip Forsberg continued his hot streak with the game's first two goals. Roman Josi was also a pillar on the point as usual, playing nearly 24 minutes. It was almost as if the magic of seeing the Hall on Monday night gave Rinne's former teammates a little extra motivation.
Juuse Saros is on a roll
Saros earned the NHL's third star of the week for his two performances against the Carolina Hurricanes and St. Louis Blues, but he saved his best for the Kings. He has now stopped 83 of 85 shots this month, owning a .976 save percentage and a 0.67 goals-against average.
The start of the season wasn't great for the Finnish goaltender, but if he continues this form, he will quickly rise through the ranks in the league. A Vezina-caliber season suddenly doesn't sound as surprising as it would've before the year began.
Filip Forsberg is among the league's best
Forsberg had an average start to the year like Saros, but the pair are quickly leading the Predators to some special things. Since the October 25 win over the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville is 6-1-1, and Forsberg has six goals and eight assists.
The most intriguing part of Forsberg's resurgence might be the chemistry he is building with Nils Hoglander. The Swedish winger assisted on both of Forsberg's goals on Tuesday, and now has seven points in 18 games, two more than he had in 35 for the Vancouver Canucks last season.
Shane Wright is yet to record a point as their center, but his two-way play has been a catalyst for everything the pair have been doing, which is exactly what Nashville thought they were getting in him. The points will eventually come.
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