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    • Andrew Brunette, Predators react to first win of the season
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    Andrew Brunette, Predators react to first win of the season

    Eira Gwyneth Posted on

    It took a little longer than expected, but the Nashville Predators won a game.

    After a 33-save shutout from goaltender Juuse Saros, the Predators defeated the Boston Bruins 4-0 at Bridgestone Arena, ending their five-game losing streak.

    “That looked like us,” coach Andrew Brunette said after the win. “We didn’t look very similar in the first five games… it was fun to see that.”

    By “us” Brunette means the team that should start better than 0:5. The team that should be a serious playoff contender. The team that has some of the best offensive and defensive talent in the league.

    Through the first five games, the Predators appeared to be anything but contenders, but on Tuesday against Boston, they dominated the game from start to finish.

    “I loved our competition and our work ethic,” Brunette said. “We were back to the mentality that every puck counted…all 20 guys pulled the rope tonight.”

    The Predators outshot the Bruins 42-33, outscored them 32-17 and even dominated in a key advanced metric: expected goals. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Predators averaged 3.04 expected goals compared to 1.71 for Boston. It was the first time this season that the Predators outscored an opponent in this regard.

    “Everyone just worked together, you could just feel it,” forward Ryan O’Reilly said after the game. “Every puck was the most important. That was the attitude we needed. It’s nice to get that feeling back.”

    O’Reilly’s scoring began the evening when he redirected a shot from Roman Josi into the net to give the Predators a 1-0 lead late in the first period. Tommy Novak, Gustav Nyquist and Luke Evangelista also scored for Nashville (1-5-0).

    “It wasn’t a perfect game, we still made mistakes, but the way we kept fighting feels good,” O’Reilly said.

    The Bruins (3-3-1) were a tough opponent for Nashville, which earned its first win. They had won two straight games before Tuesday and six of their last seven games against the Predators.

    “We were facing a really good team, but our level of competition and fight had increased,” Nyquist said. “We kept our heads high with the 0-5 start, but of course you need this win.”

    Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at [email protected]. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our exclusive Predators Instagram page @tennessean_preds.

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    Eira Gwyneth
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