Juuse Saros made 27 saves to earn his fourth shutout of the season, leading the Nashville Predators to a 3-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.
Steven Stamkos scored the first goal of the game, while Gustav Nyquist and Colton Sissons each had one goal and one assist for the Predators, who ended a three-game losing streak.
Saros recorded his 27th career shutout as the Predators, who had struggled, finally got a win in their fourth game of a six-game road trip.
Kevin Lankinen took over as the goalie for Vancouver after their top goalie, Thatcher Demko, was out due to back spasms. Lankinen stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced.
Vancouver, missing several key players including top scorer Quinn Hughes, important forward Elias Pettersson, and defenseman Filip Hronek due to injuries, has only won two of their last eight games (2-3-3).
The game was an exciting battle between the goalies, and Stamkos broke the tie at 16:53 of the second period, scoring on a one-timer from the left faceoff dot off a pass from Jonathan Marchessault. Stamkos now has 19 goals in 22 career games against the Canucks.
Nyquist, who had been denied on a breakaway earlier, sealed the win with an empty-net goal at 1:44 remaining, marking his first goal in 19 games.
Sissons added another empty-net goal in the last minute to make it 3-0.
Saros played excellently from the start, stopping a breakaway by J.T. Miller in the first period and making a key save on Pius Suter’s shot in the third period.
The Canucks nearly scored early in the second period, but Teddy Blueger’s goal was disallowed due to goalie interference.
Vancouver, which couldn’t score on any of its three power-play chances, has a weak 7-8-6 home record, with only two wins in their last six home games (2-2-2).
