8 Career Shutouts
Juuse Saros of Forssa, Finland registered his eighth career National Hockey League career shutout on Sunday. Saros, who has recorded all eight shutouts in his career with the Nashville Predators, made 28 saves as Nashville beat the Winnipeg Jets 1-0 at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Saros made seven saves in the first period, 11 saves in the second period and 10 saves in the third period. Josh Morrissey of Calgary, Alberta and fellow Fin Patrik Laine of Tampere, Finland led the Jets in shots on goal with five each. Nashville outshot Winnipeg 32-28.
In 2019-20, Saros has a record of six wins, seven regulation losses and four losses in extra time which was of note to fans in the states along with the news that Pointsbet is to launch in Indiana and open it’s doors to these sorts of mathematics wagers. He has a goals against average of 3.09 and a save percentage of .897.
It has been quite the week for Predators goaltenders. On Thursday, Pekka Rinne scored a goal for Nashville in a 5-2 Predators win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Like Saros, Rinne is also from Finland as he is from Kempele.
In the Predators win over the Jets, Kyle Turris of New Westminster, British Columbia scored the only goal of the hockey game. It came at 11:53 of the first period from Yakov Trenin of Chelyabinsk, Russia. The assist for the rookie Trenin came one day before his 23rd birthday.
The win over the Jets was the second win for John Hynes of Warwick, RI since he became the Predators head coach on Tuesday. Hynes, who replaced Peter Laviolette of Franklin, MA, lost his first game with Nashville by a score of 6-2 to the Boston Bruins, but then helped the Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Thursday before beating the Jets.
The Predators were expected to contend for a Central Division title in 2019-20, but are 16 points back of the first place St. Louis Blues. They have a record of 21 wins, 16 regulation losses and seven losses in extra time for 49 points. Nashville is four points back of the Edmonton Oilers for a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
3rd Goaltender in History
Elvis Merzlikins of Riga, Latvia became the third goaltender in National Hockey League history to record a shutout on Saturday. Merzlikins made 27 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 at the T-Mobile Arena.
Merzlikins follows in the footsteps of Arturs Irbe of Riga, Latvia and Peter Skudra of Riga, Latvia. Irbe had 33 shutouts with the San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes from 1992 to 2002. Skudra had six shutouts with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Canucks from 1998 to 2003.
In the Blue Jackets win over the Golden Knights on Saturday, Merzlikins made 27 saves for his first career shutout. The Golden Knights outshot the Blue Jackets 27-22. Merzlikins made seven saves in the first period, 11 saves in the second period and eight saves in the third period. Max Pacioretty of New Canaan, CT led the Golden Knights in shots on goal with five.
There is no doubt that the Swedes on the Blue Jackets played an integral role in the Columbus win. Offensively, the Blue Jackets beat the Golden Knights on a two assist game from center Kevin Stenlund of Huddinge, Sweden. Stenlund, who had his first two assists and first multi-point game in his NHL career on Saturday, helped set up Emil Bemstrom of Nykoping, Sweden for the game winning goal at 16:38 of the first period on the power play, and then picked up a primary assist on the 3-0 Blue Jackets goal by Alexander Wennberg of Stockholm, Sweden at 8:26 of the third period. The other Blue Jackets player who got on the scoresheet was Pierre-Luc Dubois of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec.
Merzlikins has a record of five wins, six losses and four losses in extra time. He has a goals against average of 2.70 and a save percentage of .915.
The Blue Jackets currently have a record of 22 wins, 16 regulation losses and eight losses in extra time for 52 points. They are four points back of the Carolina Hurricanes for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
The Streak
The Tampa Bay Lightning might have seen their 10 game winning streak come to an end on Sunday with a 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils, but Tampa Bay has received unbelievable goaltending recently from Andrei Vasilevskiy of Tyumen, Russia. On Saturday, Vasilevskiy earned his second shutout in two games as the Lightning beat the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0. Vasilevskiy, who had shutout the Arizona Coyotes 4-0 on January 9, made 23 saves in the Tampa Bay win over Philadelphia.
Vasilevskiy made seven saves in the first period, six saves in the second period and 10 saves in the third period. Tampa Bay outshot Philadelphia 28-23.
The Lightning’s goal scorer in the game was Patrick Maroon of St. Louis, MO. In fact, Maroon was the only player in the entire contest to register a point as his goal was unassisted at the 7:27 mark of the second period.
Vasilevskiy currently leads the National Hockey League in wins with 22. He is tied with St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington of Richmond Hill, Ontario.
In 33 games this season, Vasilevskiy has a record of 22 wins, nine regulation losses and two losses in extra time. He has a goals against average of 2.58 and a save percentage of .915.
Vasilevskiy has not lost in almost an entire month. His last defeat came on December 14 in a 5-2 Tampa Bay loss to the Washington Capitals at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL.
In another remarkable streak, Vasilevskiy has gone 145 minutes and 55 seconds without giving up a goal. That is 60 full minutes against the Coyotes and Flyers, along with 25 minutes and 55 seconds against the Vancouver Canucks. On January 7, Tampa Bay destroyed Vancouver 9-2. Loui Eriksson of Gothenburg, Sweden was the last player to score a goal on Vasilevskiy as he scored from Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson at 14:05 of the second period in that game.
The Lightning are in second place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 27 wins, 14 regulation losses and four losses in extra time for 58 points. They have seven fewer points than the first place Boston Bruins.