Sharks no match for Preds
The Sharks successfully hit the road Tuesday, beginning a four-game trip with a victory in St. Louis.
On Thursday, the road hit back.
Nashville, looking to extend its Central Division lead, did just that, as the Predators used a four-goal third period to earn a 7-1 win over the Sharks.
The margin of defeat matched San Jose’s worst of the season, a 6-0 loss at Dallas on Dec. 31.
“It didn’t feel like a 7-1 game,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer told NHL.com. “Obviously, we own it and that’s what it ended up being, but 3-1 going into the third, we’re on the power play. I thought we were playing a pretty decent road game. You have to credit them; they have the ability to open the flood gates and really pour it on. They did that in the third, and it got away from us.”
The Sharks went 0-for-5 on the power play and have not scored with the man advantage in their past seven games.
After Nashville built a 2-0 lead in the first period, Logan Couture cut the Predators’ lead in half at 8:39 of the second.
After skating the puck below the goal line on the right side, Couture lifted a backhand toward the Nashville net. The puck squeezed between goalie Pekke Rinne and the near post for Couture’s 25th goal.
Nashville regained a two-goal lead at 15:57 of the second.