Juuse Saros made 35 saves as the Nashville Predators earned a 2-1 victory in Boston on Tuesday, ending the Bruins’ seven-game winning streak.
Cody Glass had a goal and also assisted on Cole Smith’s empty-netter for Nashville (37-28-8, 82 points), which lost its previous two games.
Boston (57-12-5, 119 points) broke Saros’ shutout bid with 0.3 seconds left when David Pastrnak buried a turnaround shot at the left crease for his 52nd goal of the season.
Saros faced his biggest workload in the third period, as Boston held a 16-4 shot advantage. The game total was 36-23 in the Bruins’ favor.
Linus Ullmark stopped 21 shots, but Boston lost in regulation for just the fourth time this season on home ice (30-4-3). The Bruins need 14 points in their last eight games to set the NHL’s single-season record for points, a mark currently held by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens (132 points).
Both teams were 0-for-5 on the power play.
In a rather sleepy start, the game was scoreless after the first period despite each team going to the power play three times. Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo nearly scored a short-handed goal between the legs of Saros, but the puck was cleared off the goal line.
The man-up scoring drought continued for both sides before Nashville took a 1-0 lead late in the second.
The Predators finally broke through with 1:49 left in the middle frame, as Glass followed up Boston defenseman Hampus Lindholm’s shot block and buried a wrister top corner past Ullmark.
Saros made key stops about seven minutes into the third, including one point-blank save on Lindholm, who took a slick feed from Trent Frederic.
Lauzon scored an empty-net goal from long distance, cushioning the Predators’ advantage with 1:19 left.
Nashville was playing its first game after six people lost their lives Monday in a shooting at The Covenant School. The arena observed a moment of silence before the game, while both teams wore helmet decals with the school’s insignia.
–Field Level Media
–Field Level Media
