Goaltender Juuse Saros stopped 35 of 35 over two games, while Wedgewood struggled to stop 29 of 39
By Anthony Pellegrino @Apelle50 IceInsider.com Predators All Access Reporter
BOSTON--Nashville's preseason ended at Bridgestone Arena this Saturday night, falling 5-3 to the Carolina Hurricanes. While the Predators outshot Carolina 43 to 29, they fell short ending with a 2-3 record during preseason.
Saturday was a testament to the franchise goaltender's play throughout training camp, starting and playing half the contest Juuse Saros blanked Carolina making 12 shots on the amount he faced. In his two preseason outings, Saros stopped all 35 shots he's seen, something he's done only once in his career.
Splitting the net with Saros was a free agent acquisition, Scott Wedgewood. Nicknamed "Wedgewall" during his time in Dallas, he'll have to live up to the nickname come the regular season, since he's struggled thus far. During his preseason contests, Wedgewood has posted a meer .739 SV%.
When someone like Saros is in goal, players have the confidence in the netminder to make more offensive plays, hence why you'll see guys like defenseman Roman Josi step up into plays more than not when Juuse Saros is in goal.
Thursday marks the Predators home and season opener. The last time Nashville partook in a home opener doubling as the season opener was two seasons ago, when Saros stopped 31 of 32 in a in a win against San Jose.
Carrying the load:
Juuse Saros split the load with the legendary Pekka Rinne to open his NHL career, until the 2021-2022 season where ever since, playing a minimum of 64 games played.
Last season, he played 64 out of the 82-game schedule, going 35-24-5, posting a .906 SV% and 2.86 GAA.
When a goaltender does play a 60-game schedule in the modern-day, as fast as ever NHL, the body of these goaltenders is more vulnerable to injuries.
While the only player to have his number retired in the franchise's history, goaltender Pekka Rinne, started around sixty games per season, throughout his career. Saros is following in his footsteps, but it's the last of a dying breed. The modern-day NHL starters typically start 55 games through the season.
Get the job done:
Historically, Saros has been relatively inconsistent to begin the regular season before achieving his most consistent play ever appreciated by the Predators. Last season, he was a shutout in game two before struggling against Edmonton in game four when Brunette decided to pull him after allowing four goals on eleven shots.
Another factor to help Nashville's goaltenders will be defenseman Brady Skjei, an offseason addition to the blue line, aquired during free agency. Averaging 1.13 blocked shots per game last season, he'll be an evident upgrade to Nashville's blue line. He's expected to play alongside Predators captain Roman Josi.
As noted, with the long-term addition of Skjei, he will be a contributing factor to the goaltenders seeing a decreased workload, something Nashville struggled with last season.
Scott Wedgewood, another offseason addition backing up Saros, has to perform better than he did during his preseason contests. A luxury Nashville had last season was the ability to call upon former backup Kevin Lankinen when needed. He played a huge role in Nashville clinching the playoffs.
Utilize the system (if needed):
While goaltender Juuse Saros has proved to the organization that he can handle a 60-plus game workload, injuries are inevitable to players and goaltenders. Another scenario is if Wedgewood continues to struggle into the regular season, giving Admirals goaltenders a chance with Nashville could be possible.
When Nashville traded rookie Yaroslav Askarov to San Jose, they gained goaltender Magnus Chrona in return. The 6'6 native out of Sweden spent his first pro season last year between the NHL, AHL, and ECHL. Although he posted underwhelming NHL numbers (.859 SV%), he had three promising outings against Dallas, Ottawa, and Philidelphia with a .950 SV% in the span.
Matt Murray, 26, spent parts of the past three seasons with the Dallas organization, including four NHL showings over the span. In his lone NHL appearance last season, Murray went 23/23 for his first NHL shutout.
Depending on how debut seasons in Milwaukee go for Murray and Chrona, Nashville could give the rookie goaltenders outings later in the season, that's if Scott Wedgewood still hasn't found his game.
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