By Barbara Mason
AP Photo: San Jose Sharks Joe Pavelski (8) and Brett Burns (88) take a victory skate in front of the Sharks bench after Pavelski’s goal in the second period against the Nashville Predators on Saturday night at SAP Center
SAN JOSE–Saturday night the San Jose Sharks took on the Nashville Predators hoping to keep their home record spotless in this their 26th year of hockey. The sell-out crowd at SAP suffered through a very very slow start for the team. After more than ten minutes into the first period, the Sharks had only taken 2 shots on goal. The Predators were taking more shots than the Black and Teal but at 15:28 #27 Joonas Donskoi assisted by #39 Logan Couture and #7 Paul Martin slipped one past the Nashville goalie Rinne to take the early lead 1-0. San Jose had made up for lost ground by taking 10 shots on goal at the period’s end. The Sharks would eventually run away with this game with a 4-1 win.
Although sitting in last place in the tough Central Division of the Western Conference, the Predators have a more than respectable record at 7-2 and was obviously giving San Jose a run for their money. The Sharks had squandered a number of scoring opportunities in the opening period that needed to be rectified in the second period if they were to get past this one,
San Jose wasted little time as the second period got underway when #8 Joe Pavelski scored unassisted on a power play at 2:47. Seconds later at 3:04 San Jose struck again off the stick of #57 Tommy Wingels assisted by #5 David Schlemko and #38 Michael Haley to lead by the score of 3-0. San Jose had entered this period looking very different than the team we saw in the first period.
With 41.3 ticks left on the clock the Predators James Neal scored his first goal of the season, his team trailing 3-1. Despite allowing that goal San Jose had clearly outplayed the Predators in the period. San Jose had taken 21 shots on goal to Nashville’s 17.
Finishing the period on a high note would no doubt give the Predators a real boost going into the third period.
The Sharks were struggling going into the third period. They were playing not to lose rather than playing to win, a dangerous path. The Predators were in control of the period through ten minutes. As the game neared completion the Predators emptied their net as expected. When #19 Joe Thornton took the puck with an apparent free shot into the empty net he was tripped. He was awarded the goal and the Sharks would win the game 4-1.
The first star was given to goalie Martin Jones who was stellar stopping 27 of 28 shots. The second went to captain Joe Pavelski who had 1 goal and 1 assist and the third star was Thomas Hertl who was 69% on face off.
Captain Joe Pavelski feels that the team is still not playing like themselves. “We’ve come close a couple of times.” He does feel that the team is constantly improving and will be there soon. He also gave a lot of credit to his goalie in this evening’s game. “He made some great saves for us,” he said. There is no doubt that he deserved that first star.
The Sharks will head out on the road to take on the Coyotes Tuesday November 1 at Glendale Arena Daniel Dullum has your exclusive Sharks coverage for SRS. The puck drops at 7:00.
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