Following the first four-goal comeback win in franchise history, the Nashville Predators have headed west to complete a home-and-home set with the San Jose Sharks tonight at SAP Center for a 9:30 p.m. CT puck drop. Tonight’s contest is the second of three meetings between the two clubs this season; the Preds will visit the Sharks once more in March.
The Predators found themselves down by a 5-1 count early in the second period to the Sharks on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena, but Nashville roared back to score six unanswered and collect its fourth consecutive win.
Now, the Preds and Sharks will get together once more, and Nashville knows they need to have a better start if they’re to have any chance to sweep the home-and-home set.
“I think it's hard to make sense of it, but a huge comeback for us,” Predators Captain Roman Josi said following Tuesday’s win. “Not a good start, obviously… It was a bad first period, but we found a way. And we talked about it in the room; we’ve got to believe that we can come back from this, and early in the year, we didn't do that. To be able to come back, it's pretty huge for us, for our confidence that we know we can do it. But at the same time, our starts have got to be a lot better, because that [is a] skilled team over there and playing them [again in two days], and you saw what they do when you’re not on them.”
Preds forward Cole Smith returned to action after missing 11 games due to a lower-body injury. Forward Mark Jankowski, who is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, was scratched on Tuesday, as were Kieffer Bellows and Spencer Stastney.
Last Time Out:
Josi, Tommy Novak, Fedor Svechkov, Justin Barron, Jonathan Marchessault, Nick Blankenburg and Filip Forsberg all found the back of the net on Tuesday, while Justus Annunen collected the win after taking over for Juuse Saros to start the second period.
Marchessault finished the night with a goal and three assists to extend his point streak to nine games for the first time in his career, surpassing his previous best of 8 GP from Dec. 10-27, 2024. Marchessault also extended his assist streak to eight games and passed Kyle Turris (7 GP in 2017-18) for the longest by a player in their first season with the Preds.
Forsberg now has goals in six straight and recorded his 59th career multi-assist game to tie Martin Erat for the second-most in franchise history behind Roman Josi (109).
The Good Guys:
Forsberg continues to lead the Preds with 16 goals and 45 points, followed by Marchessault with 15 goals and 38 points, while Josi has 34 points (9g-25a). Steven Stamkos has 16 goals and 31 points, and Ryan O’Reilly has 13 tallies and 27 points to his name. Saros is 11-18-6 in net; Annunen is 11-6-0 overall.
The Opposition:
The Sharks have now dropped four in a row, including Tuesday’s 7-5 loss in Nashville. Former Preds forward Mikael Granlund continues to lead San Jose in scoring (14g-26a) with 40 points, followed by William Eklund (10g-26a) with 36 points and Macklin Celebrini (14g-20a) with 34 points. Alexandar Georgiev, who took the loss on Tuesday, is 10-16-0; former Preds goaltender Yaroslav Askarov is 3-4-2.
All-Time Meetings:
The Predators are 47-29-(2)-8 all-time against the Sharks, including a 18-17-(1)-6 mark on the road.
The Predators are 5-0-0 in their last five games against the Sharks; they are 10-0-0 in their last 10; and 5-0-0 in their last five on the road.
Nashville owns a 14-game point streak (13-0-1) against San Jose that dates back to March 16, 2019, in which the team has allowed more than two goals against only once. The last time the Predators were defeated at home by the Sharks was on Oct. 21, 2018, by a score of 5-4 and the last time they lost on the road was Nov. 9, 2019, in a 2-1 shootout.
The Predators defeated the Sharks, 8-0, on March 5, 2022, marking the largest margin of victory in a road game in franchise history.
The Predators have won 11 straight games against the Sharks dating to Dec. 10, 2019, which is their longest active streak against a single opponent. The only teams with an active run of as many contests against a single opponent are the Bruins (14 GP vs. SJS), Avalanche (11 GP vs. SJS) and Panthers (11 GP vs. SJS).
Notables Versus San Jose:
Jonathan Marchessault leads all Predators skaters with 34 points (14g-20a) in 36 career games against the Sharks. It is the most points and assists he has tallied against a single franchise and tied for the most goals.
Steven Stamkos has posted 32 points (15g-17a) in 24 career games against San Jose. His 1.33 points per-game are the fourth-most he has against one team. Stamkos has 16 points (7g-9a) in his last 11 games vs. the Sharks.
Roman Josi has 32 points (8g-24a) in 35 career games against the Sharks, including four points (4g) on March 5, 2022. Josi set at the time, a franchise-high rating of +6 against the Sharks on March 5, 2022, at the SAP Center. He is currently on a six-game point streak (2g-7a) vs. the Sharks.
Filip Forsberg is averaging over a point per game in his career vs. San Jose, posting 31 points (12g-19a) in 27 contests. He posted a 13-game point (8g-12a-20pts) streak against the Sharks from Feb. 22, 2018-Oct. 21, 2023.
Milestone Watch:
Vinnie Hinostroza is two assists from 100 in his NHL career.
Ryan O’Reilly is two points from 800 and five goals from 300 in his NHL career.
Steven Stamkos (571) is three goals from passing Mike Bossy (573) for the 23rd-most goals in NHL history and three assists from 600 in his career.
Watch & Listen:
Coverage for tonight’s game begins at 9 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and analyst Chris Mason will have the call on the television side.
Max Herz and Hal Gill will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on El Jefe which airs on 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM and 810 AM. (El partido también se transmite en español por El Jefe en 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM y 810 AM.)
