The San Jose Sharks sailed into Bridgestone Arena Saturday night, riding the waves of a brutal 6-1 beatdown at the hands of the Dallas Stars. The Nashville Predators greeted them with a 7-2 rout in front of a raucous crowd, finishing off a three-win home stand.

Colton Sissons got the party started with a nice backhander past Martin Jones and just like that the Preds lead 1-0. Cody McLeod and Micheal Haley drop the gloves with neither men really doing anything besides floundering around. If Cody McLeod doesn’t drop the gloves at least once per game, does he even earn a paycheck? Roman Josi skates past Brent Burns — making him look all kinds of silly — and bangs one off the cross bar that McLeod harpoons in for the 2-0 lead. The Sharks are treading some serious water here to end the first.

Thanks to a Matt Irwin interference call, Patrick Marleau puts the Sharks on the board with a power play goal. The Preds see the Sharks power play goal and raise them one of their own. James Neal with his 22nd goal of the year gives Nashville back it’s two-goal lead. Yes, you read that correctly; James Neal scored a goal in a game Tim Peel is reffing. P.K. Subban, remember him? He gave the boys in gold a 4-1 lead with a hail Mary slapper from the face-off circle. And because Nashville can’t have nice things, Justin Braun gets one back for San Jose as he cuts the lead to 4-2. However, the Preds will take a 4-2 lead into the third period; it’s sink or swim time for the Sharks.

The third period is where things got crazy. Craig Smith appeared to have his first goal since Jan. 26, but Colton Sissons deflected it to nab his second of the game. Nearing the end, Calle Jarnkrok boarded Micheal Haley. Haley, visibly upset, charged toward Jarnkrok and sucker punched him, sending Calle to the locker room to get checked out. The Preds went on the power play with Haley serving a game misconduct (intent to injure) and James Neal nets his second goal of the game. Viktor Arvidsson adds a seventh goal, because why not?

The Preds absolutely owned this game. Should these teams meet again in the playoffs, this game will be fresh on everyone’s minds, for many reasons.

Random Observations

Pekka Rinne getting all the accolades!
Colton Sissons, legit scoring threat?
Cody McLeod drops the gloves, Cody McLeod to the penalty box, rinse and repeat
My god, Roman Josi
McLeod gets credit for that goal but make no mistake Josi did 99.9% of the work
James Neal with the rare goal in a Tim Peel refereed game
Colin Wilson with a smart, smart play right there on the delayed penalty
P.K. Subban showing why no shot on goal is a bad shot on goal
Micheal Haley with a cheap shot on Jarnkrok /

Michael Haley punch lands HARD on Calle Jarnkrok. Yowza. Haley given a game misconduct. #Preds #SJS pic.twitter.com/VCoZmNFTc6

— Mark Harris (@MCHisTweeting) March 26, 2017

That’s a fine and suspension if you ask me/

OTF’s Super Duper Stars of the Game

Colton Sissons – Sissons is heating up. The Preds could use another goal-scoring threat heading into the playoffs. Hopefully, we are starting to see more of the guy who had back-to-back 25-goal seasons in Milwaukee
Pekka Rinne – he made some big saves tonight and has been hot in his last four games – good news for Nashville heading into the playoffs
Colin Wilson – he had two assists, but did you see that play on the delayed penalty? He skated in and sealed off the defender from touching the puck. Smart, smart man that Colin Wilson

Tweets of the Night

Dare you to play with that. pic.twitter.com/tCHRpq2bLM

— NHL (@NHL) March 26, 2017

Fan behind me yells “goalie has a little stick.”
Me to the lady beside me “yea they don’t have a big Pekka like we do.” 😂😂😂😂#Preds

— Robin (@wannabe21) March 26, 2017