After a tough start to their season, the Nashville Predators are undefeated in 2025.
While they’ve only played one game — a 3-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Friday at Rogers Arena — the Predators ended a three-game losing streak and secured their fourth road win of the season to start the new year.
“We made it harder on ourselves, but I liked our third period,” said coach Andrew Brunette after the game. “There was a commitment to closing out the game and we haven’t done that a whole lot.”
After Steven Stamkos scored the first goal with 3:07 left in the second period, the Predators (12-20-7, 31 points) kept up their defense to support Juuse Saros’ 27 saves. The Canucks (18-12-8, 44 points) only managed eight shots on Saros in the third period. Colton Sissons and Gustav Nyquist then added empty net goals to seal the win.
“I feel like the desperation and urgency was there,” Saros said. “Maybe not the prettiest at times, but the effort was there for sure.”
Saros’ early save on a J.T. Miller breakaway sparks defense
Just over three minutes into the game, Saros made a save on a breakaway attempt by Canucks forward J.T. Miller. A poorly timed offensive pinch by defenseman Justin Barron allowed Miller to get through, but Saros stayed strong, deflecting Miller’s shot to the corner with his blocker.
“I saw it was going to happen, I was trying to yell for (a defenseman),” Saros explained. “But I was able to get ready for it pretty early, so I just tried to challenge him as much as I could and stay patient.”
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Canucks only had nine high-danger chances and created 1.86 expected goals during 5-on-5 play — the lowest the Predators have allowed since a 5-2 win over the Hurricanes on Dec. 23.
The Predators held the Canucks — who played without captain Quinn Hughes and forward Elias Pettersson — to just 17 shots during 5-on-5 play.
Another strong point for Nashville was its penalty kill. After allowing three power play goals to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, the Predators went 3-for-3 against Vancouver, including a key late stop in the third period when Luke Evangelista was called for high sticking.
“The penalty kill came in huge at the end and didn’t give them much on those power plays,” Saros said.
