The Sharks out Corsi’d the Preds 38-36 and out shot the Preds during 5-on-5 play by a count of 19-13 but that was all she wrote for San Jose.
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As a result, they’re outscoring their opposition 12-8 at even strength, a plus-4 goal differential that is tied for second among playoff teams.
The power play goal was his third of the playoffs and made it 1-1. Neal got the first at 5:11 of the second period. “Most nights when we get into the game or start to turn over some pucks, we catch ourselves as a group and get ourselves back on track and that didn’t happen the other night”. Nevertheless, it worked in the Predators’ favor in Game 3, and Laviolette will have to make a decision of whether or not to go with the same lineup in Game 4 on Thursday.
The Preds went up 2-0 in their Round One series against the Anaheim Ducks, only to see their opponent win the next three.
Rinne would settle down after that, keeping the Sharks off the scoresheet for the rest of the game. He will be trying to win the Sharks their first Stanley Cup and his own first as well. While the Sharks have struggled on the penalty kill all year, ranking 21st in the regular season, they’re allowing the Predators to establish zone time and momentum whenever they have the man advantage. “They’re not a team you want to let back in the series”. But special teams proved to be a bigger factor. “I think there’s a lot of confidence in our room with our guys that we can win, and we can be successful”.
Before the Nashville Predators can look ahead to what’s still to come in their Round Two series with the San Jose Sharks, they’re focusing on the present. “We had a couple different looks, but it definitely could have been better”, said captain Joe Pavelski, who has six goals in the postseason. “I thought he did a good job”. Nashville has not lost a game in regulation on home ice to San Jose since February 25, 2012, with the lone defeat in seven games a shootout loss April 2.
The Sharks scored first following an odd penalty late in the second period. At right is Predators defenseman Roman Josi (59), of Switzerland.
Though the first two rounds of the playoffs, this ability has been a huge benefit for the Sharks.
I think we re all confident in the 14 forwards, eight d-men and two goalies that we have, Sharks center Logan Couture said. “There’s nothing you can do about that, I guess”. The goal was an important one for Forsberg, who hadn’t scored since the opening game of the first round. The Sharks are 23-10-4 with the over in their last 37 vs. the Central Division. With Matt Nieto in the box for hooking Johansen, Smith joined him a minute later setting up 60 seconds of 4-on-4 play. Then, Nashville killed off the ensuing power play. As much the they tried to get themselves fired up for the occasion, there was no matching the urgency that came with the possibility of going down 3-0.
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The Predators and Colton Sissons opened the third period with a scary site with the young forward crashing into the net and boards before having to be helped off of the ice.
