San Jose Sharks Comeback Falls Short, Lose to Nashville Predators 6-3
The San Jose Sharks hosted the Nashville Predators in a game with massive playoff implications on Saturday night. Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky deemed it “the most important game of the season,” and to be frank, that may be underselling it. It was likely the most important game in over half of a decade.
The Predators were controlling the run of play early on, getting some quality shots on Yaroslav Askarov. Adam Gaudette took the first penalty of the night when he was called for hooking at 6:50 of the first period. The high-powered Nashville power play took advantage of their first power play, as Filip Forsberg was able to beat Askarov to make it 1-0.
Forsberg then scored his second of the night off a rebound less than a minute and a half later. At 11:49, Nashville captain Roman Josi went to the box for hooking Will Smith. The Sharks were unable to score on the man advantage, but Sam Dickinson made some smart plays at the blue line to keep the puck in the offensive zone.
Moments after Josi’s penalty expired, Brady Skjei went to the box for hauling down Gaudette. 49 seconds into the man advantage, the power play was nullified due to an interference penalty on Dmitry Orlov. After Skjei was released from the penalty box, Steven Stamkos scored on the Predators’ abbreviated power play to make it a 3-0 hockey game.
The Sharks had a very strong possession a few minutes into the second period, keeping the Predators trapped in their own zone and unable to make a line change. Unfortunately for the Sharks, an easy glove save for Juuse Saros allowed the Predators to get fresh legs on the ice. Askarov made a big glove save with 11:33 remaining in the second to keep his team’s hopes alive, as a four-goal deficit would almost certainly put the game out of reach.