Third Period Push Elevates Nashville Predators Past San Jose Sharks
Predators reclaim lead, seal victory with three unanswered third-period goals after squandering a three-goal advantage. Ryan O'Reilly nets the winner.
After building up a three-goal lead and losing it, the Nashville Predators scored three unanswered goals in the third period for a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Saturday at SAP Center. Sitting at 81 points, the Predators have the regulation wins (26) tiebreaker over the Los Angeles Kings for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Ryan O'Reilly scored the game-winning goal off a feed from Luke Evangelista from behind the net into the left face-off circle.
O'Reilly snapped it past Yaroslav Askarov for his 25th goal of the season. A delay of the game call on Roman Josi with four minutes left gave the Sharks some momentum, but Erik Haula was able to halt it, scoring shorthanded and giving the Predators a two-goal lead late. HAULA SHORTY ALERT 🤯 pic.
twitter. com/PZBSIo9sD8 — Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) April 5, 2026 Jost added an empty net goal with 1:15 left in the game for insurance. The Predators jumped into the driver's seat early as Filip Forsberg scored twice, 1:16 apart in the first 10 minutes of the game.
He is creeping up on 40 goals, sitting at 37 with six games left. Steven Stamkos notched his 11th power-play goal of the season and 38th of the year to put Nashville up 3-0 at the end of the first period. The Predators outshot the Sharks, 12-5, in the first 20 minutes of the game.