Juuse Saros Earns 200th Win in Nashville Predators' 3-1 Defeat of Carolina Hurricanes

Behind a masterful 34-save performance from Juuse Saros, the Nashville Predators (27-36-8, 62 points) held on to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes (43-24-4, 90 points) Tuesday at Lenovo Center.

The win was the 200th of Saros' NHL career, making him the fifth-fastest Finnish goalie to reach the milestone (402 GP). Nashville completed the season sweep of the Hurricanes after beating them, 5-2, in their previous meeting on Dec. 23 at Bridgestone Arena.

Luke Evangelista (2 goals) and Marc Del Gaizo (2 assists) led the Predators with two points apiece, and Filip Forsberg (1 assist) extended his point streak to five games. Michael Bunting also scored his second power-play goal in his last three games.

Carolina outshot Nashville, 35-16, but Saros was tremendous between the pipes. Pyotr Kochetkov made 13 saves in the loss for Carolina.

Forsberg-O'Reilly-Evangelista
 Bunting-Stamkos-Marchessault
Smith-Svechkov-Sissons
L'Heureux-McCarron-Bellows

Skjei-Blankenburg
Del Gaizo-Barron
Oesterle-Stastney

Saros
Annunen

Extra: Englund, Vrana
IR: Josi, Lauzon, Wilsby

The Predators earned the first power play chance in the game when Dmitry Orlov was whistled for high-sticking against Michael Bunting just over three minutes into the first period. Nashville's top power play unit struggled early, allowing Carolina's penalty killers to generate multiple shorthanded chances in the first minute of 5-on-4.

The Predators' second power play unit cashed in, however, when Bunting found a loose puck behind the pad of Kochetkov and tucked it in to give Nashville a 1-0 lead over the Hurricanes at the 5:14 mark of the first period.

Bunting's goal was assisted by Kieffer Bellows, who earned his first helper as a member of the Predators, and Brady Skjei, who was playing in his first regular-season game at Lenovo Center as a member of the opposing team after spending parts of the last five seasons with the Hurricanes.

Bunting has now scored two power-play goals in his last three games, both against his former teams. His last came on Saturday in the Predators' 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, where he played for two seasons from 2021-23.

Bunting signed with Carolina in free agency before the 2023-24 season, and he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins later that year in the deal that sent Jake Guentzel to the Hurricanes. Nashville acquired Bunting from the Penguins in the week leading up to this year's trade deadline as part of the deal that sent Luke Schenn and Tommy Novak to Pittsburgh.

Luke Evangelista widened Nashville's lead to 2-0 just over four minutes into the second frame. Filip Forsberg received a stretch pass from Marc Del Gaizo along the boards and chipped it to Evangelista entering the zone, and Evangelista deked on Kochetkov for the score.

With the primary assist on the play, Forsberg recorded his 22nd career five-game point streak and passed Roman Josi (21) for the most in Predators history.

Michael McCarron committed the Predators' first penalty of the game less than a minute later with a cross-check on Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Carolina made them pay. Taylor Hall received a pass from Seth Jarvis, entered the zone with speed and buried the puck down low on the backhand for a highlight-reel goal to cut the Hurricanes' deficit to 2-1 at 6:02 of the second period.

Hall's goal was his third power-play tally in his last four games with the Hurricanes.

The Predators were fortunate to come out of the second period with a one-goal lead after being outshot, 27-9, through the first 40 minutes of play. The Hurricanes held Nashville to just two shots in the second period alone as the Predators failed to take care of the puck and struggled to keep up with Carolina's speed.

The Predators were opportunistic once again late in the third period when Ryan O'Reilly won a puck battle down low and found Del Gaizo for a shot that was tipped in by Evangelista for his second goal of the night from in front of the net at the 12:48 mark.

Saros and the Predators held the Hurricanes off the board for the remainder of the frame to secure the 3-1 victory.