NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Kevin Fiala and Viktor Arvidsson scored two goals each to lead the illness-depleted Nashville Predators to a 5-1 victory over the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.
Calle Jarnkrok also scored and P.K. Subban and Filip Forsberg each added two assists for Nashville. Juuse Saros had 34 shots for his first NHL victory as the Predators snapped a three-game skid.
Scott Wilson scored in the opening minute of the game for Pittsburgh. Marc-Andre Fleury gave up the five goals on 23 shots through the first two periods before being replaced by Mike Condon, who stopped all seven shots he faced in the third.
Arvidsson tied the score on the power play at 3:08 of the first period, and Fiala beat Fleury with a wrister to start a four-goal second with his first of the season at 2:26.
Jarnkrok's wrister made it 3-1 just past midway through the period with his first point of the season, and Fiala got his second goal about a minute later for his first career multi-goal game.
Arvidsson's second of the game and third of the season, into the top right corner of the net, capped the scoring with 36 second left in the second.
It only took 52 seconds for Saros to give up his first goal in his first NHL start of the season. Wilson skated in to beat Saros to his glove side with a wrist shot.
Saros was an emergency call-up. Pekka Rinne, Mike Fisher, Craig Smith and Colton Sissons were all sidelined dealing with the after effects of food poisoning that has affected several Nashville players over the last two games.
Saros was one of five players recalled from Milwaukee. The others were forwards Frederick Gaudreau, Trevor Smith, Austin Watson, and Harry Zolnierczyk.
NOTES: Nashville's Yannick Weber and Saros each earned their first assists of the season. ... The five goals were the most allowed by Fleury in a game this season. ... Nashville placed Cody Bass on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. ... Saros made his second NHL start, having started a game last season, a 3-2 loss to Buffalo. ... Nashville set a franchise record with the power-play goal, the ninth of the season in the first five games, beating the previous record of seven set in 2005-06 and 2002-03. ... Pittsburgh's Matt Cullen, who played two seasons for the Predators, became the 59th player in NHL history to play in 1,300 games. ... Gaudreau made his NHL debut for Nashville.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host Florida on Tuesday night.
Predators: At Anaheim on Wednesday night.
