NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Petr Mrazek was ready for everything the Nashville Predators threw at him Saturday night - and they had plenty to offer.
Mrazek made 42 saves, Mike Green scored in the first period and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Predators 1-0 on Saturday night.
“I thought right from the onset, I looked at Petr and thought, ’That’s the Petr I know,’” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “When he’s got tons of confidence, he looks big in the net. I thought he was excellent tonight right from the get-go.”
Pekka Rinne made 18 saves for Nashville, which has lost two of three.
“A lot of quality looks tonight and a lot of good chances for us,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “We have to give their goalie some credit, he played well. We had a lot of looks and opportunities. I thought both of the goalies played well. Pekka played well, too.”
Mrazek is 5-0-0 in his career against Nashville. He made nine saves in the first, 16 in the second and 17 in the third to record his first shutout of the season and 10th of his career. He has been the goaltender of record in both of Detroit’s wins over the Predators this season. The first came in Detroit on Oct. 21, when several Predators could not finish the game due to a bout of food poisoning.
Late in the third, Mrazek stopped five Nashville shots in the span of 1:10. His best save of the sequence came on Roman Josi’s slap shot from the point with Colin Wilson parked just outside of Mrazek’s crease with 2:02 remaining.
Green scored with 1:30 left in the opening period. From below the goal line to the left of the Nashville net, Henrik Zetterberg sent a pass to Green in the high slot, and he beat Rinne from there with a wrist shot high to the glove side.
Zetterberg, along with linemates Gustav Nyquist and Anthony Mantha, cycled the puck in the Nashville zone prior to Green’s goal.
“Z did a good job of just spotting it to an area,” Green said. “But it started with all three of them putting pressure on the D men and turning pucks over and it causes confusion and we get opportunities.”
Zetterberg extended his points streak to three games. He has five points over those three games.
Green’s goal came less than two minutes after Nashville’s Viktor Arvidsson hit the crossbar with a backhand from 12 feet away from the Detroit net.
Notes: Josi returned to the lineup after missing nine games with an upper-body injury. … Earlier Saturday, the Predators acquired C Vernon Fiddler from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft. Fiddler played 305 games with the Predators between 2002 and 2009. … Detroit assigned G Jimmy Howard to Grand Rapids of the AHL on a conditioning assignment. Howard has been sidelined since late December with a knee injury.
UP NEXT:
Red Wings: Host Columbus on Tuesday night.
Predators: Host Vancouver on Tuesday night.
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