In Nashville, Juuse Saros made 33 saves to backstop the Predators to a 2-1 win over the visiting New Jersey Devils, in the skills competition.
“It feels good,” Saros said. “It was a nice game from a goalie’s standpoint. I saw a lot of pucks and a lot of shots from outside, so I felt good.”
Frederick Gaudreau scored the Preds’ only goal in regulation.
“I think it’s just our ability to go there and want to make a difference,” Gaudreau said. “[Salomaki] and [Rocco Grimaldi] are so fast, and I think that helps us just creating opportunities, creating turnovers and just putting pressure deep down their zone. I think that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Ryan Johansen was credited with the winner in the sixth round of the skills cmpetition.
“I’ve been struggling for a long time. I was hot there for a while early in my [NHL] career, and then I was struggling big-time so I just went kind of back to the basics for me, and it was really nice to get one in there,” Johansen said.
Brian Boyle scored the lone goal for the Devils.
New Jersey dropped to 11-13-7.
[WATCH: All Devils vs. Predators highlights]
Keith Kinkaid made 27 saves in taking the loss.
“Keith played really well,” Devils head coach John Hynes said. “I think this was a game where we got good goaltending but we felt we were the better team. I mean we had a lot of chances. I thought we carried the play, we were defensively sound. When we needed saves Keith was fantastic, and that’s what you need.
“We don’t feel like we stole a point. We feel like we didn’t get the second [point], and that’s the difference. Sometimes you can get outplayed and you can steal a point. Tonight we didn’t steal a point. Tonight we didn’t get the second one.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.