The Nashville Predators found a way to shut down Connor McDavid.
Juuse Saros made 31 saves to record the shutout as the Predators ran their winning streak to five games, beating the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on Saturday.
“We knew before the game they had lots of talent so we had to be solid in the defensive zone,” said Saros (4-0-0 on the season), who got the call with Pekke Rinne out with an injury. “I think we were that today and our penalty kill was really great, too.”
P.K. Subban, Viktor Arvidsson and Roman Josi scored for the Predators (7-1-0), who are a perfect 4-0-0 on the road. Mattias Ekholm had a pair of assists.
“People talk about our ability to jump in the rush and generate offence, but we take pride in trying to make it as easy as we can on our goaltenders,” Subban said. “It’s tough to play against us when we’re moving our feet getting back to pucks.”
The Oilers (3-3-0) had a three-game winning streak halted.
“I don’t think we were as sharp as the last few games before,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl. “We were clicking and created a lot more chances than we did today. We are still a work in progress. We need to create a little more than we did tonight.”
There was no scoring in the first period, with Nashville getting seven shots on Oilers starter Cam Talbot and Edmonton putting four on Saros.
Nashville broke the deadlock with just 6:46 remaining in the second on a short-handed goal. Subban broke up ice on a 2-on-1 after an Edmonton giveaway and elected to shoot it himself, scoring his second of the season.
The Predators made it 2-0 a minute-and-a-half later after a nice passing play set up Arvidsson, who snuck a wrist shot past Talbot.
Josi put the game away in the final minute with an empty-net goal.
Nashville head coach Peter Laviolette did the entire post-game interview while wearing a full bull mask, something he had promised his team he would do if they swept both of their games against Alberta teams over the last couple days.
“It was going to be a tough trip so we threw it out to the players and they got to choose the back end of the challenge, so we’re honouring the deal,” he said.
“Good on him to hold up his end of the bet,” Subban chuckled.
Both teams return to action on Tuesday, with the Predators returning home to face San Jose and the Oilers playing host to the Pittsburgh Penguins.