On the same day he was named an NHL All-Star, Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros proved to be the biggest star of all on the ice during his historic performance.

Yes, history is his story now after Saros set franchise records for saves with 64 and saves in one period with 28 during Thursday's 5-3 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes.

In the process, Saros tied for the third most saves in a regular-season game in NHL history.

All of that after being named an All-Star for the second consecutive season earlier Thursday.

Saros tempered his excitement about the news, shrugging it off by saying it had no bearing on his performance because he'd found out earlier in the week. Saros broke the previous franchise record of 54 saves, set by Dan Ellis in 2008, and became the fifth goalie in league history with at least 62 saves in a game.

"It's pretty cool," he told Bally Sports South after Thursday's game about being picked as an All-Star.

Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm didn't hold back, though, calling Saros the "best player on the team."

"That's why he was selected," Ekholm told reporters in Carolina after the game. "He shows it night in and night out. ... For that stretch we were in a rut (six-game losing streak), he was never in a rut.

"He's been the one keeping us in games. Even though we may have played poorly he's been there to bail us out."

Predators coach John Hynes echoed Ekholm.

"He's one of the stars of our team and he played like it (Thursday)," Hynes said.

Saros' numbers back that up. He was 14-10-5 with a .918 save percentage (seventh in the league) and 2.77 goals-against average (13th) after Thursday's games.

He was third in the league with 10.92 goals saved above average, according to naturalstattrick.com. His 168 high-danger saves had him fourth. He also topped the NHL with 880 saves and had at least 30 saves in 17 games.

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Saros will play for the Central Division during All-Star weekend Feb. 3-4 in Sunrise, Florida. The All-Star Game and skills competitions will be held at FLA Live Arena, home of the Florida Panthers. According to the new format, the NHL's department of hockey operations picked a player from each team in each division (including one goalie) that make up each division's roster.

"It's a nice feeling," Saros said of his performance Thursday. "It was a sweaty night but nice to get the win."

While forward Filip Forsberg was named the NHL's first star of the week for the week ending Jan. 1, Saros showed why he's the team's All-Star representative.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Juuse Saros: Nashville Predators goalie sets record, named All-Star