Golden Knights pepper Predators with shots but come up short

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Steve Marcus

Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (74) blocks a shot on goal by Vegas Golden Knights right wing Ryan Reaves (75) in the third period at T-Mobile Arena Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019. The Predators beat the Golden Knights 2-1.

Wed, Jan 23, 2019 (11:03 p.m.)

Predators Beat Golden Knights 2-1

Vegas Golden Knights left wing Max Pacioretty (67) is upended by Nashville Predators center Ryan Johansen (92) during a game at T-Mobile Arena Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019. Launch slideshow »

Take a peek at the stat sheet from Wednesday’s Golden Knights game without looking at the score and it would be hard to conclude that Vegas lost.

The Golden Knights held the Nashville Predators to two shots on goal in the third, opened the game on a 10-1 shots advantage and finished with a commanding lead in shots on goal, Corsi, scoring chances, and high-danger chances.

But the Predators had goalie Juuse Saros, who continued his domination of the Golden Knights with a career-high 47 saves in helping Nashville beat Vegas 2-1 at T-Mobile Arena.

“It happens. I liked the way we played though,” forward Cody Eakin said. “Sometimes that’s the way it goes.”

Wednesday was Saros’ third-career game against the Golden Knights and his third win. He has stopped 114 of the 116 shots Vegas has sent his way in those games, good for a .983 save percentage and an 0.67 goals-against average.

“I thought we played really hard and played a pretty good game,” said assistant coach Mike Kelly, who had postgame media duty instead of head coach Gerard Gallant. “He was excellent.”

As the numbers suggest, the Golden Knights played a good game. They came out of the gate flying and squeezed the life out of any third-period scoring chances Nashville tried to muster.

The Predators scored both of their goals in the first four minutes of the second period, but the game was all Vegas.

It was a playoff atmosphere inside T-Mobile Arena, which was expected. Nashville won the Presidents’ Trophy last season, which prompted the Golden Knights to poke fun at the Predators’ Regular Season Western Conference Champions banner in the pregame video.

The fans were fired up, a regular occurrence as the season enters its final 30 games.

“We’ve had a lot of those the last week — fun games to be a part of and that was one of them,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “It sucks to lose it, but I like the energy our guys brought."

For the first time this year, the Golden Knights look vulnerable at home. Wednesday marked the first time the Golden Knights lost back-to-back home games in regulation and the first time they have lost three of four at home. They have lost four of six overall going into the All-Star break and the bye week.

The Golden Knights were the better team Wednesday night. A terrific performance by Saros helped Nashville steal one, and as some of the players said, sometimes that’s just how the chips fall.

“It was just a great hockey game,” Schmidt said. “You had two teams that are going to be there at the end taking punches back and forth.”

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