San Jose Sharks Fall Flat Against Predators

The San Jose Sharks were a confident group heading into their Saturday night matchup in Music City. The Nashville Predators didn’t care.

Nashville broke open a fairly close contest early in the third period as they waltzed their way to a 6-2 victory as San Jose had no answers for the Predators on this night. This was the sixth straight defeat for San Jose in the Music City as their woes in Bridgestone Arena continue.

It was a surprising outcome from a Sharks team that had been playing some of their best hockey of the year and hadn’t lost a game by more than one goal since Jan. 2 against Winnipeg.

This night belonged to the Predators who capitalized on San Jose’s miscues. James Neal got Nashville going with his 19th of the season, one-timing one past Martin Jones after a beautiful feed from Ryan Johansen behind the net.

It was just the beginning of a frustrating night for Jones who was rolling before this game.

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The Predators would double their lead in the second as Johansen made a nice play, stopping Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s clearing attempt and finding Calle Jarnkrok all alone in the slot. Jones was able to get a piece of his rising shot, but not enough as the puck fluttered into the open net for a 2-0 Nashville lead.

San Jose was able to cut the deficit in half as their power play was able to strike as Joe Thornton tapped-in a loose puck at the side of the net for his 11th goal of the season, and second goal in as many games.

Unfortunately, the Predators answered right back just 80 seconds later as Viktor Arvidsson fired home his first of two goals on this night, picking the top corner, glove side on Jones while losing his balance. It’s a shot that Jones had to stop and seemed to deflate the Sharks heading into the second intermission.

In the third, Nashville broke things open in less than a two minute span off some nifty plays from Filip Forsberg. After the Sharks were caught in deep following a power play rush, Forsberg was in on a two-on-one and he beat Jones low and to the stick side for his 15th goal of the season.

Then, following another ill-advised pinch at the Predators blue line, Forsberg found Arvidsson was made a perfect deke around the Sharks netminder and slid the puck into the empty net. Just like that, San Jose was buried and it was surprising to see Peter DeBoer leave Jones in for the entire contest as he clearly wasn’t on top of his game.

The lone solace for San Jose was their power play got back on track as Logan Couture one-timed a Thornton feed past Pekka Rinne for their second man-advantage conversion on the night. Other than that, it was an ugly scoreline and box score for the Sharks as they fell to Rinne and the Predators once again.

Next: Sharks Readying Themselves For Playoff Hockey

The Sharks have little time to regroup as they look to head home with a .500 road trip as they tangle with the Chicago Blackhawks for the final time this season. San Jose has dropped both games against Chicago this year, so this will be another big test for the boys in teal against the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

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