Daily Faceoff Live: 64-save performance from Juuse Saros
Matt Larkin and Frank Seravalli talked about Juuse Saros’ amazing performance and the state of the Nashville Predators on the latest episode of Daily Faceoff Live.
Frank Seravalli: Juuse Saros etched his name into the Nashville Predators record books with a ridiculous 64-save performance against the Carolina Hurricanes. And you look at the way that the shots kept unfolding in this game. I was watching and following along live and checking back and forth between this game and a few others last night.
I was like, 44 shots in the second period? Am I seeing this right, what is happening here?
And Juuse Saros the clear difference maker on a night that the Carolina Hurricanes flat-out blew the doors off the Predators.
Matt Larkin: Unbelievable, almost tripled them in shots and the little goalie that could, Juuse Saros, one of the best individual performances by a goaltender this century. And I’m not exaggerating, look at some of the comparison points, you have Ben Scrivens with a 59-save shutout which was in 2014, that’s probably the gold standard.
You have Joonas Korpisalo in the five-overtime game in 2019-2020 and 85 saves. Igor Shesterkin, who almost had 80 saves in a game last year. But this is the second most saves in a game ever in regulation. The record is Mario Lessard 65 (saves), so Saros was so close and it just shows how much he is rounding into form, for someone who was really off his game for the first part of the season.
He was looked to as a Vezina Trophy contender coming into the season, didn’t quite have his game. He’s found his game and he’s just absolutely in a groove. Amazing performance to say the least.
Frank Seravalli: What do you make of the Preds and their season Matt, you know they certainly have regressed a bit. A lot of people saw this coming based on the career years that a number of players had last year. And I’m not just talking about their top-end scorers but Tanner Jeannot, I think he had 24 goals last year, he’s down to three at this point in time this season.
Not everyone has been able to march back and put in the same type of season that they had last year. And the Preds are floundering a bit, we’ll talk about this a little bit more in our deadline countdown segment next week, specifically with regards to Matthias Ekholm. Where do the Preds go from here, where would you start?
Matt Larkin: I would just like to start by getting the old Acme TNT thing and blow it up, if I’m David Poile because this team is living in the murky middle far too long. Every season there’s this inspiring story of the Nashville Predators, are they going to make the playoffs, are they going to make a late push, will the goaltending carry them into the playoffs. Last year they were a very tough team, probably the most physical team in the NHL, very hard to play against.
They had some great stories like Tanner Jeannot, for example, but a lot of the players were over their heads, especially Matt Duchene of course, had a career year. Ryan Johansen, a lot of it was not sustainable. And I just think this franchise is low on talent. It’s doomed to hover in the murky middle, they have some prospects coming in. Guys like Philip Tomasino, but you don’t have the A grade, can’t miss superstars, the only way to get there is to be a lot worse. I think it’s time for David Poile to blow it up.
You can watch the rest of the show here…