 and seventh in shots allowed per game (29.4). The Preds had allowed two-or-fewer goals in 31 games, and one-or-fewer in 18 of their 60 games before allowing the handful to Vegas. Subban, who was making his eighth start of the season and first since Jan. 6, was spectacular and earned his third straight victory. His night included a huge save in the second period that could've shifted momentum, when Nashville's Ryan Hartman fired one shot, raced across the crease and tried to sneak the rebound by the post, but was denied by Subban's outstretched skate. Ahead 3-1 with a little more than 13 minutes left in the game, he stoned Viktor Arvidsson on a straight-ahead shot from just inside the circle. Kevin Fiala scored his 10th goal for Nashville, and Juuse Saros made 45 saves. Saros fell to 3-1-0 in his career against Vegas. He made a career-high 47 saves in Nashville's 2-1 victory at Vegas on Jan. 23, and recorded a 43-save shutout against Vegas on Jan. 16. Vegas got a bit of luck on its first goal, when Cody Eakin's flip of the puck dribbled to Saros, but was never secured. Pacioretty continued to poke at the puck, which eventually trickled under Saros' left pad. The Golden Knights made it 2-0 when William Karlsson passed to Reilly Smith, who dished to a wide open Pirri, who was streaking into the zone. Pirri's initial shot was blocked, but he stuck with it and followed it up and found the back of the net with his third game-winner. Vegas extended the lead to 3-0 after Paul Stastny blew an opportunity to collect a pass on a 2-on-1 break, but then recovered with a takeaway near the blue line and dished to Theodore, who buried a backhand over Saros. Nashville got on the board shortly after, when Fiala split Vegas' top defensive pair Deryk Engelland and Nate Schmidt and beat Subban on a breakaway. Later in the period, Lindberg took a pass from Alex Tuch and fired the puck through the legs of Nashville forward Colton Sissons and past Saros to extend the lead to 4-1. Tuch, the team leader in points with 41 points, snapped a seven-game drought with the assist. Pacioretty added his second goal of the game with 2:29 left. NOTES: Paul Stastny has at least one point in 16 of his last 21 games. ... P. K. Subban remains two points from 400 and six goals from 100. UP NEXTNashville: Visits Dallas on Tuesday. Vegas: Visits Colorado on Monday.---More NHL: https://apnews.com/tag/NHL and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
Time: 10:00 PM EST Venue: T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, NV, 89119 / The Vegas Golden Knights will try to snap a franchise record five-game home losing streak when they play host to the Nashville Predators on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The second-year Golden Knights, who lost just 10 times on their home ice during their entire inaugural regular season (29-10-2), are in danger of going winless during a four-game homestand that began with a 4-3 setback to Columbus on Saturday and was followed by losses to Arizona (5-2) on Tuesday and Toronto (6-3) on Thursday. All three losses featured third period collapses for Vegas which has been outscored 8-2 in that period during the three games. Cam Atkinson scored twice in the final 5:12 to pull out the win for the Blue Jackets, while both Arizona and Toronto scored three goals in the final 20 minutes to win going away." We've got to get better in the third," coach Gerard Gallant said after the loss to the Maple Leafs. "That's where you win hockey games and we didn't do it." It's disappointing to lose at home. We've had a good record here. ... We're playing some good teams. I thought we (fumbled) away a couple, but for the most part we played some good teams and they beat us." The home losing streak started with a 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 21. The Predators arrived in Las Vegas two days later and behind a career-high 47 saves by Juuse Saros, earned a 2-1 victory." It's going to be the guys in here that are going to turn it around," Vegas center Paul Stastny said. "We've just got to mentally refresh and turn the page. It's easier said than done, but we all have got to kind of carry our own weight and help each other out as much as we can." Vegas has lost seven of its last nine games overall but still holds a comfortable seven-point lead over Vancouver for third place in the Pacific Division. But the Golden Knights, who had hoped to make a run for one of the top two spots and home ice for the first round of the playoffs, are nine points behind co-leaders San Jose and Calgary with just 23 games to play. Nashville, which snapped a three-game losing streak of its own on Thursday night with a 3-1 home win over Montreal, has won both of the first two meetings between the two teams. Saros was also in net during a 4-1 victory on Oct. 30 in Nashville and had 23 saves while Ryan Hartman scored two goals. The Predators, who are 15-10-4 on the road this season, enter Saturday night's contest two points behind first place Winnipeg in the Central Division, but the Jets have two games in hand. The trip to Las Vegas begins a two-game road trip that concludes on Tuesday night at Dallas. The Stars and St. Louis Blues are 10 points behind Nashville in third place. The Predators scored two third period goals to pull out the win over the Canadiens on Thursday night." Huge," goalie Pekka Rinne, who had 34 saves, said of the win afterward. "This time of year, it's the last stretch. Only 22 games left. ... Hopefully we can build some momentum going forward." --Field Level Media
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