Koivunen's OT Snap Sinks Nashville After Saros Stands Tall

Juuse Saros stopped 34 of 37 shots and still walked away with a loss. Pittsburgh needed overtime and a Ville Koivunen snap shot at 3:44 of the extra frame to finally put Nashville away, 3-2.

Nashville drew first blood at 9:24 of the first period when Steven Stamkos deflected home his fifth goal of the season, with Matthew Wood and Ryan O'Reilly picking up assists. It was the kind of early lead that looks like a statement — except Pittsburgh had other ideas before the second period was 20 seconds old. Connor Dewar answered with a wrist shot at 0:18 of the middle frame, assisted by Elmer Soderblom, and just like that the Predators' cushion was gone before most fans had settled back into their seats.

Nashville didn't flinch. Jayden Struble — in what appears to be a breakout moment for the young defenseman — buried a snap shot at 6:40 of the second to put the Predators back in front, 2-1, with Nils Hoglander picking up the helper. That lead held deep into the third, with Saros looking increasingly unbeatable at 34 saves. Then, with just 1:06 left on the clock in regulation, Pittsburgh's Rickard Rakell snapped one home off a Sidney Crosby feed — Crosby's fourth assist of the season, Erik Karlsson adding his league-leading 11th — to force overtime and gut-punch a Nashville team that had done everything right for nearly 59 minutes.

The story of the night was Saros, and not in a good way for Nashville. Thirty-four saves, a heroic effort, and nothing to show for it. On the other side, Arturs Silovs was efficient rather than spectacular — 24 saves on 26 shots — but he didn't need to be spectacular because Pittsburgh's offense kept finding answers. Koivunen's overtime winner, set up by Hendrix Lapierre and Kris Letang, was his second goal of the season and the cleanest possible dagger: a snap shot, no drama, just execution. Pittsburgh looks like a team that knows how to survive, and Nashville looks like a team that needs to figure out how to close. Saros can only do so much.