Quick Bite: Sharks’ streak snapped by Predators

The Sharks were defeated by the Nashville Predators 3-1 in a tightly-contested early Saturday afternoon game.

The Sharks were able to grab the first goal of the game in the first period when Paul Martin slotted a shot off a faceoff past Predators goalie Juuse Saros, who was being screened by Jannik Hansen.

However, this early lead did not last very long as Ryan Johansen tallied his 11^th goal of the season off a broken play after a turnover in the Sharks’ defensive end. The score would stay deadlocked at 1 heading into the second period.

Midway through the second period, the Predators’ Colin Wilson won the puck in the corner and fired a pass right to James Neal, whose shot found the back of the net to give the Predators the lead. Unfortunately, for the Sharks, this would wind up being the game-winner.

Both teams would trade chances in the second period, but the score remained 2-1 heading into the third period.

The Sharks had a couple chances to tie the game on the power play in the third period. However, they failed to convert on either chance. They did, however, kill a Nashville power play late in the third period. Still, the score remained 2-1.

The Sharks had a late powerplay chance with under three minutes to play, but any opportunity to tie the game was pretty much ended when a long Hail Mary pass from the attacking zone found its way past the Sharks defense and to the stick of Viktor Arvidsson, who easily knocked the puck into the goal after the Sharks had pulled the goalie.

Throughout the third period, the Sharks had created chances, but never really had a strong enough push to be truly threatening or find the tying goal. After having success with the man advantage against the league-leading Capitals, the Sharks failed to find that spark, going 0-for-4. The Sharks did manage to outshoot the Predators 26-25, but couldn’t manage to find that second goal.

The Sharks currently hold a seven point advantage over the Ducks atop the Pacific Division with a game in hand. They host the Dallas Stars tomorrow at 7pm Pacific time.

Fear the Fin’s Three Stars:

1.      Juuse Saros

2.      Mike Fisher

3.      Martin Jones