Luke Evangelista scored twice late in regulation, but it wasn’t enough as the Nashville Predators fell to the San Jose Sharks by a 3-2 final on Monday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result, coupled with a Los Angeles win at Seattle, eliminated the Predators from playoff contention.
“It's tough,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “It just wasn't our best game… We just felt like we couldn't find that rhythm, and then we couldn't get to our game like we did in the past couple games. It's tough, obviously.”
“We got what we deserved,” Preds Alternate Captain Ryan O’Reilly said. “We didn’t start the way we needed to and got down and just couldn’t find a way back… It’s brutal.”
Neither team scored in the opening 20 minutes, but it was San Jose that struck first on a power play in the second stanza. That lead carried into the third period where the Sharks doubled it.
Evangelista’s first of the night came with less than five minutes to play, and after the Sharks went back up by two with an empty-netter, Evangelista got another to bring the Preds back within one.
However, that was as close as Nashville came, and in game No. 81 of the campaign, their postseason hopes were dashed.
“It was a lot of meaningful games, and that's what you want, right?” Josi said. “That's the games you want to play in. And that's why this hurts right now. It sucks because we put ourselves in position to play these games, and played really well the last couple games here, and put ourselves in the spot to go all the way to the end to make the playoffs. That's why this one is tough. Because if you get that one, you're still in a position to have a better chance for the last game. Now we don't.”
As Predators Head Coach Andrew Brunette reflected on the loss before his club had officially been eliminated, the sting was already there. That feeling will likely linger for a bit, especially considering how the Preds worked their way back from the bottom of the NHL standings in November to give themselves a shot.
Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be.
“You feel gutted,” Brunette said. “I think everything we went through as a group [to] put ourselves in position to play this game tonight…you're disappointed that we didn't get the result… I give the group - it's been an amazing group - tons of credit, and we still fought. We fought to the end.
“This one hurts...probably hurts one of the most of my career, playing, coaching, just how much we went through it together, how much belief there was, and how we stuck together through all kinds of different things and just fell short. I always say it's tough to beat a team three times in a nine-game span, or whatever it was, and they got the bounce, or they got the play tonight that we didn't get.”
Notes:
Preds defenseman Nicolas Hague remained out with an upper-body injury. Kevin Gravel and Ozzy Wiesblatt were healthy scratches against the Sharks.
The Predators conclude the 2025-26 regular season on Thursday night when they host the Anaheim Ducks at Bridgestone Arena.
