SHARKS SCORE BIG WIN OVER PREDATORS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The game lived up to the hype.
Two Stanley Cup favorites, the Sharks (5-3-1) and the Nashville Predators (7-2), slugging it out for 60 minutes in a see-saw game decided in the late stages of the third period.
With the likes of Erik Karlsson, P.K. Subban and Brent Burns on the ice, Brenden Dillon scored the pivotal goal, going end-to-end on the penalty kill, triggering flashbacks of another No. 4 — Bobby Orr — as he jumpstarted the Sharks comefrom-behind victory.
Here’s what we learned in the Sharks 5-4 win over the Nashville Predators in Music City Tuesday night:
1. The Sharks pass their ‘big test’ with top grades.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic spelled out in blunt terms what the NHL learned as the Sharks snapped the Predators five game winning streak: “We’re one of the favorites.”
Though his team controlled play throughout its first eight games, head coach Pete DeBoer called Tuesday’s showdown with the Predators a “big test” after the squad’s morning practice. The Sharks lead the NHL in Corsi percentage and rank second in shot differential, but even DeBoer acknowledged Tuesday morning that they’d racked up those numbers without facing a trulydangerous opponent.
A matchup with the Predators gave the Sharks an opportunity to see how they stack up against another team that’s four lines and six defensemen deep. They passed with top grades, earning just their second win in 11 trips to Nashville.
For the ninth time in nine games, the Sharks outshot their opponent, holding a 3229 edge. Three of the team’s four lines came out on the positive side of the possession ledger. Most importantly, Martin Jones put together another quality game, making several big saves that didn’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet.
He gave up four goals, all of them the product of miscues in front of him. Victor Arvidsson scored the Predators first goal after the puck hopped over Vlasic’s stick at the blue line. Filip Forsberg took advantage of soft-defensive coverage on a faceoff play for the second goal. Tomas Hertl turned the puck over at the blue line on Arvidsson’s second of the game and Erik Karlsson got caught cheating on a Sharks rush leading to Craig Smith goal in the dying seconds of the middle period.
But unlike the Sharks road trip to New York earlier this month, the power play bailed the team out against the Predators instead of holding it back.
DeBoer continued to play Burns and Karlsson on separate units Tuesday, but both of the Sharks power play goals came while they were on the ice together. Timo Meier scored the opening goal in front after Burns and Karlsson created space by zipping the puck around the ozone. Burns recorded the winning goal with 2:52 left in the third off a pass from Karlsson.
With three points, Burns extended his point streak to six games. His goal pushed the Sharks winning streak to three games, reminding the hockey world why so many pundits picked them as Stanley Cup favorites back in training camp.
“It was a great test,” Meier said. “They’re one of the top teams, no doubt about that. We know we’re up there, too.”
2. Meier has arrived. Prior to the Sharks game at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 11, DeBoer proclaimed that Meier had “arrived.” He wasn’t blowing smoke.
Meier earned an assist that night and he’s been setting the scoresheet on fire ever since. The 22-year-old showed just how strong he is around the net on the Sharks first goal, winning a puck battle with Subban on the doorstep before he slipped it past Juuse Saros. He got the Sharks second goal started by forcing a turnover at the Sharks blue line. Over the course of his six game point streak, Meier has racked up four goals and three assists.
But Meier isn’t just powerful, he’s quick, making him the prototypical power forward for the modern NHL.
“He’s a power forward that can skate,” Logan Couture said. “There’s no longer the power forwards that are big and slow. You need to be big and fast.”
3. DeBoer splits up Vlasic and Karlsson.
After the Vlasic-Karlsson pairing posted a minus-3 rating over the game’s first 40 minutes, DeBoer decided to throw on a pair of comfortable-old slippers. He reunited Vlasic with longtime partner Justin Braun and skated Karlsson with Dillon in the third.
“You’re down 4-2, and things aren’t going the way you want them to go, you either change the forward lines, or you change the D pairs, or you change the goalie,” DeBoer said. “We decided to change the D tonight.”
Karlsson and Vlasic are obviously still working on their chemistry just nine games into their marriage. It’s a work in progress.
As a result, Vlasic expects Karlsson to be back at his side when the Sharks return to action against the Carolina Hurricanes Friday.
“It switches up during a game. There’s nothing to read into it,” Vlasic said. “I wouldn’t, but you’ve got to find things, right?”