Juuse Saros News

Saros stopped all 26 shots that he faced after replacing Pekka Rinne in the Predators loss to the Hurricanes on Thursday. After a rough start to the season, Saros has stopped 115 of the last 117 shots (.983 SV%) that he has faced coming into tonight’s game. One of those games came against the Stars, who he’ll face tonight—he stopped 43 of 45 shots in a 5-2 win on December 5th.

The Predators have five days off between games so Saros went to Milwaukee to get some playing time over the weekend. Saros started two games, going 1-1-0 while allowing nine goals on 69 shots (.870 SV%) and comes back to the Predators where he will likely start one of their back-to-back games on Wednesday/Thursday.

After tonight’s game, the Predators are off until Wednesday so they are sending Saros to Milwaukee to get him a few starts. The 22-year-old has gone 0-3-0 with a 3.53 GAA and .874 SV% in four games with Milwaukee this season.

The Predators continue to try and get Saros some playing time in the AHL when they know Pekka Rinne will start a stretch of games. With Nashville having a back-to-back on Monday/Tuesday, Saros has been recalled and will likely start one of those games. Saros has struggled this season, going 0-3-0 with a 3.53 GAA and .874 SV% in three AHL games and a 1-3-1 with a 3.71 GAA and .870 SV% with Nashville.

The Predators sent Saros down over the weekend to get him a few starts because he has sat as Pekka Rinne’s backup for the majority of the season so far. The 22-year-old, who has struggled his four NHL appearance so far, didn’t fare much better in the AHL, giving up seven goals on 52 shots (.912 SV%). Saros is still a developing, young goalie with a bright future ahead of him, but until he turns it around this season he is better left on the waiver wire.

It looked like Saros would have a chance to carve out a nice role this season after going 10-8-3 with a 2.35 GAA and .923 SV% last year. This year did not start well, with the 22-year-old going 1-3-0 with a 3.94 GAA and .855 SV% in his first four starts. Anders Lindback has been recalled to serve as the Predators No.2 netminder.

Saros will start in Pittsburgh because Pekka Rinne has never won a game (regular season or playoffs) in Pittsburgh, so they will roll the dice with the 22-year-old. Saros had a really good season as Rinne’s backup last year, going 10-8-3 with a 2.35 GAA, .923 SV% and one shutout. The Penguins haven’t had a good start to the season, but that might be a reason to stay away from Saros—they will be a motivated team after getting embarrassed on Thursday.