~ NHL.com photo

~ By Pearl Allison Lo

~ Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne earned his 300th NHL win stopping 32 shots, as the San Jose Sharks lost 7-1 Thursday at Bridgestone Arena.

The Predators tied a season-high with seven goals as they flipped 46 pucks towards Sharks goalie Aaron Dell. Nashville replied to the Sharks’ goal with four more.  

It was Dell’s first game since February 10. Dell faced a season-high in shots and goals. Dell was making his first regular-season appearance against Nashville. San Jose have a 1-10-1 record recently in the Music City.

Despite a mix of familiar and new with the Sharks’ Tomas Hertl returning after three games and newest member Eric Fehr making his debut, it was not San Jose’s time against the Central Division leaders.  Sharks’ defenseman Brent Burns described it as a “nightmare night, not fun to play.”

However, head coach Pete DeBoer mentioned he wouldn’t “overreact. It wasn’t a disaster from start to finish.”

San Jose’s power play continued to struggle, now 0-for-18 after five more attempts.

All of the Predators’ goals came from different members. Viktor Arvidsson, Nick Bonino, Ryan Johansen and Calle Jarnkrok added assists as well.

In the first period, Nashville struck early and late.

Dell found his body on the wrong side of the net when Bonino used a wraparound attempt. Bonino was able to get the puck in before Dell’s left skate reached the left post at 1:55.

Scott Hartnell made the Sharks see double when he took an opportune pass from Bonino and found a hole under Dell’s right arm with under a minute left.

Both teams scored in the second period.

With his dad in the arena, Logan Couture potted San Jose’s first goal for the second game.

Starting from the other end, Marc-Edouard Vlasic fished the puck from the boards and sent it to Justin Braun who raced forward. Couture took the puck, exchanged a back-and-forth with Kevin Labanc and fought to eventually score from behind the goal line at 8:39.

Jannik Hansen had two point-blank rockets versus Rinne less than a minute later.

However, the Predators regained their first period cushion when Fiala capitalized on a 2-on-1 at 15:57.

Nashville continued to march off to the races with Arvidsson, Johansen and Mattias Ekholm joining the rush at 3:49, 6:30 and 11 minutes of the third period, respectively.

Dell made a save facing Colton Sissons’ shorthanded breakaway attempt. It ended up in a penalty shot, which Dell blocked too.

Up Next: The Sharks will play the second of back-to-back games Friday, facing the Chicago Blackhawks for the first time this season at 5:30pm.