NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The ice was tilted heavily in the Boston Bruins' direction on Thursday night.

But in what turned into a battle of backup goalies, the Nashville Predators' Juuse Saros stood on his head and stole two points for his short-handed team.

Making 35 saves, including 13 in a pressurized third period, Saros led Nashville to a 2-1 win at raucous Bridgestone Arena.

In just his eighth start of the year as he gave the durable Pekka Rinne a night off, Saros (4-3-1) did nothing but burnish spectacular numbers in limited action. He entered the night with a 1.29 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage and improved both those with a command performance.

"Everything," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said when asked what he liked about Saros' game. "He made the ones he had to, but he made the ones that weren't routine. He made stops on the backdoor, he made stops on deflections when he had already gotten down to one spot and had to move. He had a terrific game."

The best stop for Saros came with 6:41 left as he scooted from right to left in the crease to make a spectacular kick save on Ryan Spooner's Grade A chance at the post, drawing a huge roar from the sellout crowd of 17,113.

Saros came up with six more saves after that, the last two occurring in the final 90 seconds when Boston (22-18-5) pulled backup goalie Zane McIntyre for a sixth attacker. The Bruins generated nearly twice as many shots on goal (36-19) and more than twice as many total shots (74-35) but simply couldn't crack Saros.

"The goaltender stole two points for them," Boston coach Claude Julien said. "I liked a lot of things about this game. If we play like this the rest of the way, we'll win a heck of a lot more than we lose."

It was apparent early that the Bruins would carry play most of the game against an opponent playing without its top goal-scorer (James Neal) and All-Star defenseman P.K. Subban because of injury.

But two plays less than three minutes apart late in the first period shaped the game's remainder and might have eventually helped the Predators (19-16-7), even though they lost defenseman Roman Josi with an upper-body injury because of an illegal hit by Anton Blidh that led to a five-minute major for interference.

That's because Josi's slapper with 7:11 left in the first period knocked out Boston starter Tuukka Rask, who entered the game with a 1.97 GAA and .926 save percentage. Struck at the bottom of the mask around the throat, Rask was forced out of action with just the third shot he faced.

In came McIntyre (0-3-1), and although he made 14 saves on 16 shots, he couldn't come up with the big stops Rask has consistently made this season.

Austin Watson collected a loose puck in the slot shortly after Nashville failed to convert its five-minute power play into a goal and beat McIntyre with a wrister at 1:02 of the second period for his third goal in as many games. Before Sunday night, Watson had one goal in 35 games.

"It feels great to step up and contribute," Watson said. "With guys like James out, someone has to score goals. I've been getting to the front of the net and our line overall has done a good job putting pressure on the other team."

Torey Krug tied it for the Bruins at 8:08 with a man-advantage goal, his third of the year. Krug earned the goal, smothering a clearing attempt by Viktor Arvidsson just in front of the blue line and then wiring a slapper by Saros.

But Filip Forsberg untied it for good with a superior individual performance at 17:36. Skating stride for stride with defenseman Brandon Carlo, Forsberg managed to corral Ryan Ellis' three-line lob pass between the faceoff circles and then beat McIntyre with a wrister for his 10th goal of the season.

From there, the cool Saros made the lead stand and sent the Predators into a five-game road trip on a high note.

"Now we have two elite Finnish goalies," a grinning Forsberg said.

NOTES: Boston D Colin Miller (lower-body injury) didn't play Thursday night after being injured Tuesday night at St. Louis, but D Adam McQuaid (upper-body injury) was able to return after leaving that game in the first period. ... Nashville D P.K. Subban skated Thursday morning for the first time in nearly a month but sat out his 13th straight game with an upper-body injury. ... Bruins scratches were RW Jimmy Hayes and D Joe Morrow. ... The Predators scratched C Colin Wilson (lower-body injury), D Alexandre Carrier and C Mike Ribeiro, who had played in the first 41 games.