Predators end Sharks’ point streak at 9 games

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The party will need to wait for at least two more days.

The Sharks missed on an opportunity to clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs Thursday, coming out on the wrong side of a 5-3 score against the Nashville Predators.

A win in Nashville would have secured the Sharks 13th trip to the playoffs in 14 years. The Sharks will get another opportunity to punch their ticket into the second season when they complete their fourgame road trip in Las Vegas Saturday night.

The regulation loss also ended the Sharks nine-game point streak which got started with a win over the Detroit Red Wings on March 12. It also marked the Sharks ninth loss in their last 10 trips to Nashville.

Ryan Ellis scored the gamewinning goal at 10:06 of the third, slapping a loose puck through Martin Jones’ five hole from above the right circle, a shot the Sharks goalie probably stops 99 out of 100 times.

Logan Couture received a golden opportunity to tie the game when he received a penalty shot for a delay of game with 1:53 remaining in regulation, but the puck slipped off his stick as he was attempting a deke move. The Sharks received the penalty shot because Ellis pushed the Predators net off its hinges with the puck loose in the crease and several Sharks hacking away at it.

Nick Bonino iced the game with an empty-net goal at 19:43 of the third.

Mikkel Boedker tied the game at 3-3 at 5:54 of the third, squeezing the puck past netminder Juuse Saros with a shot from the slot just seconds before the second of back-toback power-play chances expired.

Craig Smith put the Predators ahead 3-2 at 10:38 of the second period, jumping on a loose puck and throwing it underneath Jones’ left pad. Brent Burns nearly scored on a two on one with 5:58 left in the middle frame, but Saros stretched across the crease, catching a piece of the one timer with his blocker, which sent the puck up to the crossbar.

The Sharks entered the first intermission tied 2-2 even though they got outshot by a 14-9 margin in the frame.

Couture tied it at 1 by scoring his team-leading 32nd goal with a bar down shot from the slot off a pass from Burns at 6:55 of the middle frame. In doing so, Couture matched his career high goal total set during the 2010-11 season.

Brenden Dillon evened the score at 2 with 7:55 left in the frame, recording his fifth goal with a seeing-eye shot through traffic from the right point. The goal was Dillon’s fourth of the month and his 10th point in 11 games.