Preds blank Oilers

The Nashville Predators found a way to shut down Connor McDavid.

Juuse Saros made 31 saves to record the shutout as the Predators ran their winning streak to five games, beating the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on Saturday.

“We knew before the game they had lots of talent so we had to be solid in the defensive zone,” said Saros (4-0-0 on the season), who got the call with Pekke Rinne out with an injury. “I think we were that today and our penalty kill was really great, too.”

P.K. Subban, Viktor Arvidsson and Roman Josi scored for the Predators (7-1-0), who are a perfect 4-0-0 on the road. Mattias Ekholm had a pair of assists.

“People talk about our ability to jump in the rush and generate offence, but we take pride in trying to make it as easy as we can on our goaltenders,” Subban said. “It’s tough to play against us when we’re moving our feet getting back to pucks.”

The Oilers (3-3-0) had a three-game winning streak halted.

“I don’t think we were as sharp as the last few games before,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl. “We were clicking and created a lot more chances than we did today. We are still a work in progress. We need to create a little more than we did tonight.”

There was no scoring in the first period, with Nashville getting seven shots on Oilers starter Cam Talbot and Edmonton putting four on Saros.