Saros’ struggles fall on the Predators defense in front of him
The Nashville Predators find themselves in trouble yet again this season, as they’ve followed up a nightmarish 2024-2025 campaign with a dismal start to the new season.
With a 5-9-4 record and a five-game losing streak, the Predators own the worst points percentage in the Central Division, though they are still a point ahead of St. Louis to keep them in seventh for the time being.
Things hit another new low on Monday night, when the Predators went from one Broadway to the other and got shellacked by the New York Rangers 6-3, handing the Rangers their first home win of the season in the process.
Star goaltender Juuse Saros had a miserable evening, as he allowed five goals on 12 shots before giving way to backup Justus Annunen. The effort plunged his save percentage for the season down to .892, a new low after his hot start earned the Predators a few early victories.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed Saros’ struggles and why they are more the fault of the team in front of him than his own doing.
Tyler Yaremchuk: It’s a rough stat line for Juuse Saros in Nashville, who allows five goals on just 12 shots last night. You go back and you look at the goals… none of them were terrible… out of those 12 shots he faced, Hurts, I think nine of them were from high-danger areas. Does any goalie in the league face more pressure than Juuse Saros with the way that Predators team defends in front of him?
Carter Hutton: That is the tough part… Juuse Saros is not protected in net. I don’t care how good you are, there is a factor that comes into play when you are just overexposed, and overexposed at Juuse’s size, right? He is a guy that needs to see the puck to save the puck. He doesn’t have the advantage of being 6’4″ or 6’5″… I thought last night was a great example of the chaos in the d-zone.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…