This was a tough one for the San Jose Sharks to swallow. Despite a third period rally that included two quick goals to tie the game, the Sharks fell to the Nashville Predators 3-2 in regulation. It was an unfortunate end to a game that the Sharks played well overall.
Picking up where the team left off in the game against the New York Islanders on Saturday, the Sharks continued to drive the offensive play for the second straight game. San Jose was all over Nashville at 5v5 play, pushing the pace of the game.
As you can see from Natural Stat Trick’s game flow chart at 5-on-5, aside from a few push backs from the Predators at various points of the game, the Sharks were in control at even strength.
The trouble arose when the Sharks allowed the Predators to take over on the man advantage. When you look at Natural Stat Trick’s game flow chart in all situations, you can see that the game looks more evenly balanced.
Penalty kill kills Sharks’ chances to win
Once again, it was the Sharks’ penalty kill that let the team down.
The Sharks allowed the Predators to score two power play goals in the second period and went 3-for-5 on the penalty kill this game. It’s indicative of the woes the Sharks have had on the penalty kill this March. In the team’s six games in March, the team has gone a cumulative 15-for-26 on the penalty kill, meaning it’s allowed 11 power play goals in that time span. That’s a kill rate of 57.7%. To say not good would be an understatement.
Much of this has to do with the loss of top penalty killers like Nico Sturm, Luke Kunin, Cody Ceci and Jake Walman, something Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky recognized postgame.
“I think a lot of it has to do with our personnel has changed quite a bit. We’re trying some guys, trying to get Grundy [Carl Grundstrom] involved,” said Warsofsky “We’re trying to get Patty Giles involved here soon. Obviously, Goody’s [Barclay Goodrow’s] been there, and Graffer [Collin Graf] second half of the year has stepped up. Our D corps, we’ve obviously lost some guys, and that’s not an excuse but we need to develop some big PKers [penalty killers] is really what it comes down to.”
That said, there are things he’d like to see happen moving forward.
“One, it starts with faceoffs. That’s one way to kill a penalty, is win a faceoff. The second one is off an entry. In our forecheck, in our stance at the blueline,” said Warsofsky. “And then the third is understanding our assignments. When we watch the pre-scope, we see what they’re doing, their trends. Just have an understanding of we got to make sure we’re locked in and laser focused.”
Sharks solve Saros, eventually
It also didn’t help that Predators’ goaltender Juuse Saros was on his game.
Saros hasn’t had the best season. In fact, it’s the worst season of his career. However, Sharks’ fans wouldn’t know it through the first two periods of the game. Saros stopped all 18 of the shots he faced in the first 40 minutes, at times making point-blank saves against San Jose’s top players.
There was this save on Mario Ferraro after a perfect pass from Carl Grundstrom.
Saros robs Ferraro pic.twitter.com/LzjUWURO8w
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) March 12, 2025
And then this save on Tyler Toffoli just a minute or so later.
Saros robs Toffoli, on a Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/6Z7IJFkmax
— JD Young (@MyFryHole) March 12, 2025
While Saros gave up two goals in the span of 14 seconds in the third period to allow the Sharks to tie the game, he was still a very important piece of the team’s win. Saros stopped 25 of the 27 shots that he faced and finished the night with a 0.43 goals saved above expected.
Georgiev would like to have that one back
On the other side of the ice, Alexandar Georgiev wasn’t as lucky. While Georgiev made some excellent saves of his own, he didn’t face as many shots as Saros. Georgiev allowed three goals on 19 shots and was a minus-0.43 on the goals saved above expected.
Worst of all, there was this unfortunate miscommunication with Ferraro that led to this goal that ultimately won the game for the Predators.
First Preds goal for Kieffer Bellows 🙌 pic.twitter.com/cohqOwxAQ7
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) March 12, 2025
Highlight
But let’s return to the good.
There was a lot to like about this game, but the one thing that stands out is that the Sharks, finally, were the ones delivering a player’s first NHL goal instead of allowing it. Congratulations to Patrick Giles, who scored his first NHL goal in the 11th game of his NHL career.
Patrick Giles' first NHL goal puts the Sharks within one…pic.twitter.com/XGwdKA1pAS
— Sharks on NBCS (@NBCSSharks) March 12, 2025
Postgame, Giles said his parents are coming to see him play next week and he plans to give them his 1st goal puck.
Scoring summary Nashville Predators at San Jose Sharks March 11, 2025
First Period
No Goals
Second Period
8:11 NSH Filip Forsberg from Fedor Svechkov and Nick Blankenburg on the power play
15:17 NSH Steven Stamkos from Brady Skjei on the power play
Third Period
3:42 SJS Patrick Giles from Barclay Goodrow and Carl Grunstrom
3:56 SJS Collin Graf from Will Smith
6:32 NSH Kieffer Bellows from Filip Forsberg
