Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros left Tuesday night’s 5-4 loss to the Calgary Flames in the third period with an apparent left foot injury.
Saros went to the Predators bench after an interference penalty on Flames defenseman Oliver Kylington stopped play with 6:32 remaining in regulation. Nashville’s trainer looked at Saros’ ankle, and the goalie left the ice without putting any weight on his left foot. He limped to the locker room with his arms draped around members of the training staff.
“I don’t have any update on him. He’s still getting evaluated,” said Nashville coach John Hynes, who indicated the team would know more on Wednesday about Saros’ status.
Goalie David Rittich replaced Saros and gave up a game-tying goal to Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk with 1 second remaining in the third period. Had the Predators defeated the Flames in regulation, they would have clinched a playoff spot. Instead, Rittich surrendered the game-winning goal to Elias Lindholm in overtime.
But the Predators needed only to wait a little longer to punch their postseason ticket, as the Dallas Stars defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in a shootout Tuesday night to send both the Predators and Los Angeles Kings to the playoffs.
“No one thought we were going to be here, but we talked about writing our own story,” said Hynes.
Saros has been one of the NHL’s top goalies in 2021-22. He has a 38-25-3 record in 67 starts, the most for any goalie in the league, and played in his first All-Star Game this season. Entering Tuesday, Saros had a .918 save percentage and four shutouts and was fourth among goalies with 31.6 goals saved above average.