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The Buzzer: Goalies rule New Year’s Day

Juuse Saros

Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros, of Finland, watches the puck during the first period of the team’s NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

AP

Three stars

1. Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators

The Preds needed a turnaround and found one on New Year’s Eve in a 6-3 win against the Washington Capitals.

Twenty-four hours later and now in 2019, Nashville kept the winning train rolling and a big part of that was thanks to Saros, who made 32 saves for his second shutout of the season in a 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Saros hasn’t been at the expected level many pegged him to be at this year, but he was certainly on point in Tuesday’s game, producing several stellar saves to keep the Flyers at bay.

2. Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins

Rask turned aside 36 shots to win the 2019 NHL Winter Classic in a 4-2 triumph over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Rask’s up-and-down season was at one of its peaks in this game. He looked solid and didn’t flutter when the Blackhawks opened the scoring in the first period and took a 2-1 lead in the second.

He made 15 saves in the second period to keep Boston in it and stopped all six shots he faced on four Chicago power plays.

Rask has now won back to back starts

3. Marc-Andre Fleury, Vegas Golden Knights

Vegas is back. Like really back. And so is Fleury, how has been nothing short of magnificent as he’s led his team back to arm’s reach of the Western Conference summit.

Fleury wasn’t particularly busy on Tuesday -- he made 17 saves is a 2-0 shutout of the Los Angeles Kings -- but when he was called upon, he was up to the task.

Vegas is now 5-0-2 in their past seven games, have won four straight and Fleury has is 6-0-3 in his past nine starts. All that talk about Vegas regressing was true, but only for a moment, it seems.

Fleury leads the NHL in wins (23) and shutouts (6) this season.

Highlights of the night

Here’s the extended highlight pack from Tuesday’s Winter Classic at Notre Dame.

Patrice Bergeron’s backcheck to stop a shorthanded breakaway produced some good karma that he cashed in at the other end moments later:

The fall seen around the hockey world:

Factoids

Scores

Bruins 4, Blackhawks 2

Predators 4, Flyers 0

Golden Knights 2, Kings 0


Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck