In Nashville, the Predators got a complete game from across the bench and defeated the Dallas Stars, 2-0, on Thursday night.
Juuse Saros made 33 saves to get the shutout.
“We were tough to play against,” Saros said. “We blocked a lot of shots. Guys really sacrificed, and our D-men did a really good job clearing all the rebounds. So it was an all-around good game.”
Filip Forsberg snapped a 17-game drought with a goal.
“The penalty kill has been doing an unbelievable job,” Forsberg said. “The other night, obviously seven kills against the [Minnesota Wild], and then [four] … (kills) today too against a really good Dallas power play. I think our power play looked good too. Two big goals. [Saros] played good in net. Sometimes, that’s how easy it can be.”
Both Predators goals came off the power play; they were 2-for-4 with the advantage.
“That was an easy night for [Saros],” Stars head coach Rick Bowness said. “We had talked before the game about getting to their net. There’s two things that we still refuse to do: get to the net and shoot the puck when we have the opportunities. It’s in their heads they have to make an extra play. We’ve been fighting with that all year to get it out of their heads. Tonight is a perfect example.”
Matt Duchene also scored for the Preds.
“It might have been the best poise and puck movement we’ve had all season,” Duchene said. “It just looked more like what we should look like as a hockey team. We had way more good looks and good rushes. We looked dangerous tonight, and we haven’t looked [dangerous] very much this season.”
[WATCH: All Stars vs. Predators highlights]
Anton Khudobin made 30 saves in the loss.
“They played like a very desperate hockey club, which they are, to make it to the playoffs,” Bowness said. “Give them full marks because they came at us hard. Just disappointed that we didn’t respond better. Clearly, the specialty teams were the difference. We’ll address that tomorrow in practice, but it is the desperation that they played with that we didn’t play with that’s disappointing.”
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