Their defense is led by goaltender Pekka Rinne, who allowed just three goals against the Sharks in three games last season. A Matt Tennyson shot from the slot made its way through to Pekka Rinne, and Pavelski was there to smack in the rebound at 1:28. “And they got the next one, so that takes away from it a little bit”.
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The Predators rebounded from an overtime loss against Pittsburgh on Saturday.
“We played a great road game against a good team”, Nystrom said. The Sharks are good, but to me the Preds are just a pinch better and there are very few times we will see them as a dog. We kept them to the outside for the most part. “We definitely had an opportunity to win the special-teams game, which we didn’t”. Martin Jones had 22 saves.
“I didn’t like our start”, Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said.
The power play continues to be a source of concern for the Sharks, who have not scored a goal on a man advantage in six games (0-for-13). Roman Josi set it up, feathering a pass through Brent Burns to Nystrom, who blasted it past Jones’ short side for his third of the year. But Pavelski recovered from a cross check in the back from Nashville defenseman Shea Weber to collect the loose puck and score his fourth of the season. He was knocked down twice in front of the net and got up just in time to slip the puck past Rinne.
“You feel good about scoring. At the moment you move on and work for the next one”, Pavelski said.
The Sharks meanwhile have teetered back and forth to start the year as they stormed out of the gate, fell flat for a week, and have since jumped back up the Pacific division standings with a victory in their last outing making them one of the toughest teams in sports to handicap. “We were knocking Joe Pavelski around pretty good”. “We talked about that line and how risky it is on rebounds and second shots”. “I remember a lot of games where we really had to kind of put on the survivor mode, but tonight I thought we did a really good job”. It was his first goal of the season and his first point since the season opener. He blocked a shot in the Sharks game against the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 10, played the following game Oct. 13 against the Washington Capitals but hasn t dressed since.
Jackman was on the receiving end of a hard shoulder by Tommy Wingels later in the first, and retaliated by roughing Wingels, but the Sharks couldn’t capitalize on their power play.
The Sharks recalled defenseman Mirco Mueller from the Barracuda early Wednesday evening, but Mueller was scratched.
Smith missed three games after a shot by Marc-Edouard Vlasic struck him on his right ear when the Sharks played the New York Islanders on October 17. San Jose F Joonas Donskoi (lower body) was on the ice after missing five games…. They haven’t allowed a first-period goal in 2015-16 and have scored the first goal of eight of their nine contests.
The Sharks failed to convert on a key late power play after Nashville’s Gabriel Bourque interfered with Pavelski at 11:38.
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The Sharks are looking to wrap up their homestand on a positive note before they face the Dallas Stars on Saturday and the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
