On Saturday the San Jose Sharks fell 4-2 during their home game against the Nashville Predators.
With a season record of 31-25-2, the Nashville Predators have 64 points on the season. The Preds, trailing the Los Angeles Kings by four points, are both vying for a wildcard playoff spot.
A slow first
Opening scoring was Nashville’s Kiefer Sherwood’s snap shot goal midway through the first period. Michael McCarron and Roman Josi picked up assists.
In addition to Sherwood’s goal, Preds dominated the faceoff circle, winning nine out of 17 draws in the first period.
Second period
At 17:10 in the second, Team Teal was put on the penalty kill when Henry Thrun was called for tripping. Nashville took advantage of the power play, with Filip Forseberg’s wrister, assisted by Tommy Novak and Gustav Nyquist.
San Jose’s Ryan Carpenter had a nice opportunity on a breakaway, but Nashville’s goaltender Juuse Saros saved the backhander shot.
Predators again dominated faceoff wins with 12 to the Sharks’ nine.
The bummer third
Early in the third, Sharks’ alternate captain Mikael Granlund scored a wrist shot assisted by Ty Emberson. Granlund was named second star for his goal and logged 23:27 minutes of icetime. Along with an assist, Emberson contributed three hits, two blocked shots, and a penalty in the game.
Minutes later, Nashville followed up with another goal from Sherwood assisted by Alexandre Carrier at 3:40.
Nearing the halfway point of the third, Filip Zadina’s wrist shot brought the Sharks within one again. Defenseman Jan Rutta made an assist on the goal, his tenth of the season.
While Zadina has picked up five points in his last five games, he has remained in the bottom-six lineup. The winger has 18 points in 51 appearances with a minus-25 rating.
Sadly, with 12 seconds left in the game, the Preds’ Nyquist sealed the deal with an empty-netter assisted by Forsberg.
Final score, 4-2, another loss in the books for the 15-36-5 San Jose Sharks.
Stats and notes
Nashville stayed consistent with faceoff domination, winning 9-7 of the puck drops in the third. Nashville’s win puts them on a four-game winning streak, and San Jose on a three-game losing one.
Despite being outshot 35-25, Sharks’ goalie Kaapo Kahkonen made 31 saves for the team. Kahkonen has now lost five games in a row, with four of them seeing him concede at least three goals.
The team’s inability to provide adequate support for their goalie has also exacerbated Kahkonen’s challenges in securing wins.
Both in wins and losses, the Sharks are frequently outshot by their opponent. The Sharks have just six games out of 56 where they have not been outshot.
Team Teal’s Luke Kunin was in the lineup, after initially being a game-day decision with an undisclosed injury.
Kyle Burroughs also returned to the lineup after missing two games. The defenseman logged 15:00 time on ice and two penalty infraction minutes in his return.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic was injured at practice on Friday and did not play in Saturday’s game. Vlasic has five goals and seven points in 33 games, and the defenseman may likely be traded before the deadline.
Many of the Sharks rallied together to exhibit resilience and skill despite their team’s loss in the game.
Forward Barabanov played 14:56 minutes, actively helping move pucks to teammates in front of the net. The winger had a plus-one rating in the game.
William Eklund played 19:34 minutes despite a minus-one rating. The 21-year-old contributed one shot, one blocked shot, one hit, and five faceoff wins.
Saturday’s game was the second of three meetings between the teams, with the final on March 19.
The Sharks play again at the Tank on Tuesday versus the New Jersey Devils who are 29-25-4 for the season. This will be another matchup for the Sharks against a team with playoff hopes.
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Featured image courtesy of San Jose Sharks on NHL.com
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