Game Recap: Predators 8, Sharks 2

NASHVILLE -- Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg each had a goal and two assists, and the Nashville Predators tied a franchise record by extending their point streak to 15 games with an 8-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.

The Predators, who are 13-0-2 during their streak, previously had a 15-game point streak from Feb. 19-March 19, 2018.

“The confidence is high,” Josi said. “We talked about it before the game. We’re very grateful for this opportunity to have this point streak. You can’t take it for granted. There’s a lot of work that we’ve put in to get to this point, and obviously we want to keep it going as long as we can. We’re realizing as a group what made us get here and the way we’ve played to get to this point.”

Michael McCarron scored twice, and Ryan McDonagh and Kiefer Sherwood each had three assists for Nashville (40-25-4), which hasn't lost in regulation since Feb. 15 (9-2 to the Dallas Stars). Juuse Saros made 18 saves.

Mikael Granlund and Mario Ferraro scored for the Sharks (16-45-7), who are 1-12-2 in their past 15 games. Magnus Chrona made 32 saves.

“You’re up 2-1 with 10 minutes left in the second period, and then you get this result,” San Jose coach David Quinn said. “It’s really been the story of our season. We can’t sustain successful stretches, and our bad is too bad. And that’s what you saw tonight. When our bad is bad, we look like we did tonight. As much as we’ve got to be better, we’ve got to make sure our bad isn’t as bad as tonight was.”

Josi gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 11:18 of the first period on a one-timer from the point off a pass from McDonagh.

Granlund tied it 1-1 at 17:18 on a wrist shot from the right circle on a rush. Klim Kostin found Granlund with a pass from the neutral zone, and he beat Saros blocker side.

“We were just not hard enough,” Granlund said. “We were not defending hard enough. And in the NHL, when you’re not battling hard enough, that’s how it looks. That’s a shame.”

Ferraro gave San Jose a 2-1 lead at 5:46 of the second period with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.

Jason Zucker tied it 2-2 at 9:37. Colton Sissons deflected a shot by McDonagh, and Zucker tapped in the loose puck after it trickled into the crease past Chrona.

“It was good to come out in the second and get that tying goal,” Zucker said. “I felt like we just turned the page and started playing our game after that.”

McCarron gave Nashville a 3-2 lead at 15:26 on the rebound of a shot from Sherwood.

Luke Evangelista extended it to 4-2 at 17:50 from the slot. He made a forehand-to-backhand deke and beat Chrona above his shoulder on the blocker side.

“They’ve got it going on right now," Predators coach Andrew Brunette said of Evangelista and forward Tommy Novak. “They’re skating as good as they’ve skated all year, and they have the capabilities of making special plays. You talk about going on a little bit of a run here. I think they get overlooked. They’re really kicking in that secondary scoring that maybe we’ve missed most of the year.”

McCarron’s second goal pushed it to 5-2 at 10:35 of the third period. He scored on a wrist shot from the left circle off a pass from Sherwood.

“We kill other teams' will by the third period with the way we play,” McCarron said. “Just do the right things and as a result, you can see in the third period, teams are getting tired. They don’t want to keep going back for pucks.”

Mark Jankowski extended it to 6-2 at 14:13 on a redirection, and Forsberg scored 30 seconds later to make it 7-2 on a rebound from the slot.

Novak scored with a backhand from the crease at 16:16 for the 8-2 final.

NOTES: Quinn said at the morning skate that Sharks goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood is close to returning and could be an option when they play against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Blackwood has missed the past 11 games because of a lower-body injury. … Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauzon did not play and is week-to-week because of a lower-body injury.