The Nashville Predators will try to earn a split of their brief two-game western road trip when they face the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
In a dogfight for a Western Conference playoff spot, the Predators opened the trip by blowing a 2-0 lead in a 4-3 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday. Nashville entered Friday’s action holding the first wild-card spot but tied in points with Vegas and one point ahead of Dallas.
If Nashville doesn’t make the playoffs, it can look back at its series with the expansion Kraken. Seattle, which has won just 17 games, took two out of three games against Nashville.
Ex-Predator Colin Blackwell scored the game-winner Wednesday with a short-handed goal at the 3:19 mark of the third period to break a 3-3 tie.
“They kept coming at us and kept getting chances, so yeah, the short-handed goal is unfortunate, but even after that we have to have a better effort,” said Nashville defenseman Roman Josi. “Most of the time we are a hard-working team and I felt we weren’t tonight. I felt like Seattle outworked us, and that’s something we take a lot of pride in and we’re definitely not happy with that.”
Said Predators head coach John Hynes: “Our execution with the puck wasn’t as good as it needed to be throughout the game. And then without the puck, our attention to detail was not at the level that it needed to be.”
Hynes told The Tennessean that it was important for Nashville to play its best hockey on the trip.
“We put ourselves in a great position to be able to be in the race and be in a good position,” Hynes said. “Now it’s up to us to make sure we buckle in and play our best hockey at the most important time of the year.
“You’re making a push. It’s the best time of the year. You’re in a playoff race. … You’re down the stretch.”
San Jose, 10 points behind Vegas for the final wild-card spot, still has slim hopes of making the playoffs but didn’t help its cause with a 3-1 loss to the Golden Knights on Tuesday. The four-point swing game marked the team’s 11th consecutive regular-season loss to Vegas.
The loss was a costly one for San Jose. Starting goalie James Reimer, making his 13th consecutive start, left after the first period with a lower-body injury and is listed as week to week. Zach Sawchenko replaced Reimer and stopped 18 of 20 shots over the final two periods.
“All our guys looked tired tonight,” San Jose coach Bob Boughner said. “No excuses, but we’ve played a lot of games over a short amount of days. It’s been a grind.”
The loss to the Golden Knights capped a span of six games in 10 days for the Sharks. San Jose finished 2-3-1 during the stretch.
To help bolster the team’s goaltending corps, the Sharks obtained Alex Stalock from the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday for future considerations. Backup Adin Hill has been sidelined with a lower-body injury but practiced Friday. Boughner said he wouldn’t announce a starter until Saturday afternoon.
–Field Level Media
