Back home, Sharks remain confident heading into Game 7

GAME DAY: NASHVILLE AT SAN JOSE, GAME 7, 6 P.M.

SAN JOSE, California — San Jose Sharks defenceman Paul Martin has all kinds of experience in Game 7 situations. Just three times as a player in the NHL, mind you, but on countless other occasions in his head as a kid, when he’d always imagine himself scoring the game-winning goal.

“You still do sometimes,” Martin said Wednesday. “Even in pregame nap, it just takes one shot, a tip or a screen. You never know.”

Having to play a decisive Game 7 at home today against the Nashville Predators wasn’t what the Sharks were hoping for earlier this week when they first had a chance to close out the second round playoff series.

But the Sharks are confident that if they play like they did in their last home game against the Predators in Game 5 on Saturday and correct the issues that haunted them in Game 6 on Monday, they can advance to the Western Conference finals.

“The biggest thing is just rely on your foundation. You build it all year,” Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said. “We know what we have to do, we know what our good game looks like. It’s on us to bring that. We’re confident that if we bring that, we’ll be in a good spot.”

Cleaning things up in the defensive end might be the Sharks’ biggest challenge against the Predators, who are 3-0 in elimination games in the playoffs.

Too many times in Game 6 the Sharks were on their heels, turning pucks over in their own zone or in the neutral zone, allowing the speedy Predators to dictate play. The Sharks struggled to establish a forecheck, collecting just four shots on goal in the second period and five more in the third.

The key is to find a way to get through the neutral zone and make the Predators play defence to tire out some of their heavier-minute players.