The Preds’ successful road trip continues.
Nashville got off to a good start to the game, in spite of an early Jeremy Lauzon tripping penalty. The team and Juuse Saros were able to get the penalty killed off and go back on the attack, and were rewarded with a Kiefer Sherwood goal at 10:14. The Preds eased up a little after that, then committed another penalty as Dante Fabbro got careless with his stick.
The penalty-killers made a few offensive incursions shorthanded, before a turnover let Mikael Granlund get a fantastic point-blank chance against Saros, to be met with an even better save. A missed boarding or interference call, as Granlund hit Cole Smith from behind away from the puck, left Smith looking wobbly and the Sharks’ power play continuing uninterrupted. The Preds were able to kill the rest of it off, and the period expired seconds later.
Again the second period started well for the Preds, with a few chances followed up by their first power play of the game. The Sharks’ penalty kill handled it well, but as Kyle Burroughs emerged from the box the Preds continued to press. Kaapo Kähkönen absolutely robbed Tommy Novak, and the Sharks finally managed to clear.
Nashville came back on the attack, and Smith rang iron. The Preds continued to press, getting a great sustained cycle in the offensive zone, but Kähkönen was up to the task, and the Sharks finally got a chance of their own on an odd-man rush going the other way. Saros had to make a huge stop, but the invigorated San Jose crowd was still thrilled at the chance.
The Preds got another power play when Filip Forsberg was the victim of a hold, but Saros had to handle a shorthanded breakaway by Ryan Carpenter that looked like a sure goal. Forsberg drew another penalty moments after the Sharks had killed off the last one, and this time he scored on it. With just over a minute and a half left in the period after Forsberg’s goal, the Preds found themselves on the defensive, as the Sharks got a last-minute flurry of shots in.
Granlund, who’d been having an excellent night, finally got rewarded when the Preds’ defensive coverage lapsed early in the third, getting the Sharks on the board and making it 2-1 at 1:09. Moments later, Sherwood restored the Preds’ two-goal lead with his second of the night.
San Jose responded, refusing to give up despite another Preds push, and Filip Zadina managed to make it 3-2 with a perfectly-placed shot at 9:33. The Sharks continued to swarm, and Saros just barely managed to make a toe save as the net spun off its moorings in the pileup in front of the net. It went under review, but it was impossible to verify that the puck actually entered the net legally.
The teams traded chances as the third continued, with determined efforts by Anthony Duclair and Granlund and some lively rebounds. With just over a minute left in regulation, the Sharks pulled Kähkönen, and Smith missed the empty net. The Preds managed to hold possession for a while, and Gustav Nyquist managed the empty-netter with eleven seconds left to make it four wins in a row.