Former Nashville Predators forward Philip Tomasino scored the eventual game winner against his former team as the Predators fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-0, Saturday at PPG Paints Arena. Juuse Saros was outstanding for Nashville in his return from illness, stopping 33 of 35 shots for a .943 save percentage. But it was Penguins goaltender Alex Nedjelkovic who would come away with the 25-save shutout to hand the Predators their fourth straight loss. HOW THE PREDATORS LINED UP VS. PITTSBURGH Forsberg-Stamkos-Marchessault Evangelista-O'Reilly-Nyquist Novak-Svechkov-L'Heureux Smith-McCarron-Sissons Josi-Schenn Skjei-Blankenburg Wilsby-Barron Saros Annunen Extra: Jankowski (week-to-week, upper-body), Hinostroza IR: Lauzon Saros (illness, day-to-day) returned to the lineup after not dressing for Friday's game against the Buffalo Sabres, allowing the Predators to reassign goaltender Matt Murray to the AHL's Milwaukee Admirals. The Hockey News' Emma Lingan and Michael Augello discuss Elliotte Friedman's report that the Nashville Predators are treating Ryan O'Reilly as if he has trade protection in his contract ahead of the deadline. GAME SUMMARY The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Predators, who seemed to be playing one step behind the Penguins for the first 20 minutes. At the 7:58 mark of the first period, they took a penalty for too many men on the ice and gave Pittsburgh a free two minutes on the man advantage. Tomasino – the Predators' first-round draft pick in 2019 who was traded to Pittsburgh Nov. 25 – was the first to light the lamp against his former team. As the power play was expiring, Tomasino fired a one-timer from the circle that beat Saros to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead at the 9:59 mark. The Predators fell further behind in the second period as Sidney Crosby took a drop knee one-timer on a delayed penalty call to bury a backdoor feed from Rickard Rakell to Pittsburgh's lead to 2-0 at 10:43. Nashville was without Luke Evangelista and Fedor Svechkov for part of the second period, as both players suffered apparent injuries and briefly headed back to the locker room. Disaster was avoided, however, as both returned before the end of the period. Tempers flared midway through the third period when Saros took a swipe at Crosby after a whistle and Crosby responded with a shove. Crosby headed to the box for roughing, while Saros was called for slashing. Neither team scored in the ensuing 4-on-4. Nashville struggled to maintain quality time in the offensive zone and allowed Pittsburgh to dictate the pace for most of the game. Bryan Rust scored into the empty net at 17:59 of the third period for the 3-0 final. KEY TAKEAWAYS & NOTES * undefined UP NEXT The Predators return home Monday to host the Ottawa Senators. The puck drops at Bridgestone Arena at 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast regionally on FanDuel Sports Network South and on ESPN+ for out-of-market customers in the United States.
