The Nashville Predators, coming off a game they felt they let get away, wrap up a four-game road trip Saturday night when they face the Central Division rival Winnipeg Jets.
Nashville led 2-1 at Montreal on Thursday before the Canadiens’ Cole Caufield tied it with 20 seconds remaining in regulation. Caufield added the winner with three seconds left in the extra session, leaving the Predators with a 3-2 loss and a 1-1-1 mark on their road trip.
“We’ve got to go out and win a game (in Winnipeg) and make it a half-decent trip,” said Steven Stamkos, who scored his first goal of the season in the overtime loss.
Stamkos also noted that a disconcerting pattern from last season is starting to emerge this season for the Predators, who last season posted their first sub.-500 record since 2012-13. Nashville has just 14 goals through the first five contests, and that includes back-to-back four-goal games to start the trip in a win at Ottawa (4-1) and loss at Toronto (7-4).
Two of the goals against the Senators were empty-netters. Stamkos knows the team will need to increase scoring in order to compete.
“It seems like we’re trying to find some offense, but it’s a little tough to come by,” he added.
Nashville goalie Juuse Saros made 27 saves on Thursday, and he has a .935 save percentage through four starts. He is 8-8-4 in 20 career games against the Jets, with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage.
The Finnish netminder went 2-2-0 against the Jets last season, capped by a 2-1 home win on Feb. 27, when he stopped 22 of 23 shots.
Winnipeg returns home to play the Predators after winning a pair on the East Coast, both by 5-2 scores, earlier this week. Against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, veteran center Mark Scheifele scored twice to give him five goals and eight points, both of which lead the Jets through their first three games.
Those two points gave Scheifele 812 for his career, tying him for the franchise record with his former teammate Blake Wheeler. His first chance to break the record will come as the Jets go for their fourth straight win.
Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel noted that the Ontario native was the first player the Jets drafted after the team moved from Atlanta, and the seventh overall pick in the 2011 draft has lived up to expectations.
“He’s a great player in this league. I think he’s finally, really getting the recognition that he deserves,” Arniel said.
Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck only faced 17 shots in the Thursday win. He has given up just four goals in his last two starts after surrendering five in the season-opening loss to the Dallas Stars.
The two-time defending Vezina Trophy winner has faced Nashville 29 times in his career, amassing a 17-9-2 record with a 2.42 GAA and a .927 save percentage. He won both matchups against the Predators last season, including a 3-0 home win on Dec. 30 in which he made 22 saves.
