Even Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros is struggling at home. He ranks 25th among NHL goaltenders in home save percentage at .896. On the road, his average is .908.
-- Photo By Mark Zaleski | ApIt’s been road sweet road, not home sweet home, for the Predators lately.
Over the years, the Predators have prided themselves on turning Bridgestone Arena into Smashville, making it a very difficult environment for their opponents to have success. But with a home record hovering around the .500 mark for the 2023-24 season, the Predators haven’t had that same home-ice magic, dropping multiple games to teams down in the standings, including a pair to the lowly Anaheim Ducks.
“We came out a couple of times at home and just laid a couple of eggs,” forward Luke Evangelista says. “This has to be a hard building to come into and play in.”
Through 24 home games this season, the Predators have a home points percentage success rate of .542. The Predators have only had six seasons in their history with a worse home point success rate.
The Predators hope that their come-from-behind home win over the New York Islanders Jan. 13 will spur them on to piling up more points at home. Before that win, the Predators had won only once at home in the span of six games, the lone victory coming over the Chicago Blackhawks who are in last place in the Central Division and are in the running to finish last in the NHL this season.
Against the Islanders, the game-winning goal came off the stick of defenseman Alexandre Carrier, as well as another stick that aided in the puck finding its way home.
Carrier’s shot hit the stick of New York defenseman Scott Mayfield in the low, breaking the stick into two pieces, and then the puck fluttered over the shoulder of goaltender Ilya Sorokin and into the net. That goal, with just seven seconds remaining on the game clock, gave Nashville a much-needed home win, and some much-needed confidence as well.
“Great bounce, but sometimes you’ve just got to put it on net and good things happen,” Carrier says.
Sometimes a lucky bounce is just that, lucky. But in this game, the Predators created that bounce and the related victory through relentless effort against a notoriously strong and structured defensive team.
“It was a reminder of how hard it is to win,” head coach Andrew Brunette says. “At home it was good for us to realize what it takes to win, and the effort and the resilience and the battle.”
Saros struggling early
Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros was stellar against the Islanders, allowing just one goal. Like his teammates, he has struggled at home this season. Of the 34 NHL goaltenders who have played at least 10 games on their home ice this season, Saros ranks 25th in save percentage at .896. On the road this season, Saros’ save percentage sits at .908.
Saros has been pulled from five games this season, all at home. A coach removing a goaltender from a game isn’t always indicative of how the goaltender is playing. Sometimes the team in front of him is bad enough that the coach makes the change to shake up the team, but Saros has clearly not been up to his normally high standard this season so far.
In 2022-23, when Saros finished fourth in the voting for the Vezina Trophy, his save percentage at home was. 918.
The game against the Islanders was almost in direct contrast to Nashville’s Dec. 23 home loss to the Dallas Stars, when the Stars scored twice in the final 15 seconds to turn what was looking like a sure Predators win into a loss.
Between Thanksgiving and Jan. 12, the Predators compiled an impressive 9-1-1 record in road games. With a road-heavy second half of the season, continuing the strong road effort will be important as well.
“We say it all the time, we don’t want to play any different between road and home games, but it hasn’t gone our way obviously and we need to start getting some points in this building,” defenseman Ryan McDonagh says.