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Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

By Pearl Allison Lo 

Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros and special teams operated in the Predators’ favor 3-1 in a penalty-filled night in Nashville Tuesday. 

Saros put together a .960 save percentage in making 24 saves. The San Jose Sharks outshot the Predators 10-2 in the second without any results. The team was held to single-digit goals for the third game in a row. Sharks oalie Martin Jones had his fourth straight loss, but his best save percentage in that stretch at .935.

Minus the one-game road trip loss to start the season, this was the first time the Sharks experienced a road trip without a win, as they went 0-3-1 away from home with a now five-game losing streak to match their season-high. 

All in the third, Nashville’s Nick Bonino and Ryan Johansen scored and so did San Jose’s Timo Meier. 

Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play going into the third. By the end, the Predators had outshot the Sharks 19-9 with four more power play opportunities and one power play goal. 

There’s another statistic. Check out the tweet below.

Maybe a penalty 47 seconds into the game was a precursor of what would follow throughout the game. Both teams combined for five penalties in the first period. San Jose’s Mario Ferraro got a double minor for high-sticking at 8:05. In the second, the penalties more than doubled. By 19:34, both teams had six penalties together. Two seconds before the second period ended, they got six more. The Sharks’ Evander Kane got three. For Nashville, Dan Hamhuis one and Austin Watson two. 

Both teams had even-ing penalties four times. A total of 13 different players were whistled. The Sharks’ Barclay Goodrow was penalized thrice. For the Predators, Calle Jarnkrok, Fabbro Forsberg and Roman Josi twice. 

The early penalty to start the game went to Goodrow for slashing. Ferraro’s penalty followed at 8:05. Teammate Marcus Sorensen received an unsportsmanlike conduct call at 12:51 while Forsberg was put in the box for interference. Jarnkrok’s hooking penalty at 15:36 concluded the first. 

In the second, the whistle first blew against Fabbro at 9:31 for slashing. At 17:15, Goodrow was called for cross-checking and Jarnkrok for slashing. San Jose’s Brent Burns helped out on defense versus Both Fabbro and Meier got unsportsmanlike conduct at 18:52. Kane’s penalties were a four-minute roughing, a misconduct and fighting for a total of 19 minutes, pretty much icing him the rest of the match. For Nashville, it was the same but split between Hamhuis (roughing) and Watson (misconduct and fighting). 

The whistles continued in the third with simultaneous minors to Josi (cross check) and Goodrow (closing hand on puck) at 2:03.

Bonino broke the scoring stalemate with four Sharks around him and near Jones in net at 4:24. It was his third point and second goal in as many games.

San Jose then had four straight penalties. Erik Karlsson was called for hooking at 8:29. The Sharks saw possible relief when Goodrow got a penalty shot, their first of the season on the road, but Saros stopped it.

Meier had a breakaway taken away, Burns was called for elbowing at 12:19 and Johansen subsequently scored after Jones made an initial save. It broke a five-game drought. However, San Jose challenged the goal for interference in pushing Jones’ pad but were disappointed, resulting in the delay of game penalty. 

Forsberg received the final penalty of the night at 13:34 for hooking.

Jones was pulled for an extra man with 2:07 left. Then the Sharks showed new life and that Saros was not impenetrable at 18:02.  It started off a faceoff win and the primary assist came from Hertl poking the puck across behind Saros.

San Jose managed to stay alive at first while the Predators made attempts at the empty net. The Sharks were able to keep the puck from going out, next Nashville went offsides, later turning over the puck, then icing until Jarnkrok finally put the dagger into San Jose’s hopes at 19:18. 

Up Next: Below .500 again, the Sharks will look towards familiar territory helping them with a five-game home stand, starting with the New York Rangers Thursday at 7:30 pm.