The Predators faced off against the San Jose Sharks for the first time this season in the SAP Center to begin their California road trip. Samuel Girard and Matt Irwin were in the lineup in place of Anthony Bitetto and Yannick Weber.
To start the first period, Craig Smith was able to get a wrist shot on net that almost crossed the goal if it wasn’t for Martin Jones’ alertness in the net. Towards the middle of the period, Colton Sissons had the opportunity to tip the puck in, but Jones was able to stop it. With a penalty taken from Craig Smith, Pekka Rinne was able to make an incredible save on Tomas Hertl to keep the game at 0-0. Unfortunately, Joonas Donskoi had the ability to skate to the crease and tap in a great pass from Tim Heed behind Pekka Rinne giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead with 4:11 remaining in the first period.
Pekka Rinne made an amazing save on Melker Karlsson to keep the Sharks lead at one. After that stop by Rinne, P.K Subban got a slap shot off of Martin Jones, but Calle Jarnkrok missed the empty net by the smallest amount to keep the Sharks ahead. At 8:17 into the second period, Joe Pavelski tipped in a wrist shot from Brenden Dillon which gave the Sharks a 2-0 lead. Joe Thornton got the secondary assist on the goal, giving him his 1,400th point
in his NHL career. However, just 1:47 later, Roman Josi sniped a backhand wrist shot past Martin Jones to cut the lead in half at 2-1. Later on, Filip Forsberg was called for tripping Tomas Hertl, which gave the Sharks their 4th power play of the night. Marc-Edouard Vlasic collected the puck on the power play and fired a shot past Pekka Rinne, giving the Sharks a 3-1 lead in the second period.
Ryan Johansen took a boarding penalty against Marc-Edouard Vlasic. This boarding call set controversy as to whether or not Ryan Johansen was going to get a Player’s Safety Hearing for a fine or a suspension (Note: no additional disciplinary action has been taken). With 6:17
remaining in regulation Mikkel Boedker was able to collect a great backhand pass from Chris Tierney and snapped a wrister past Pekka Rinne, making it a 4-1 game. At the end of the game, there was a total of 12 penalties. Within those 12 penalties, eight of them were for San Jose, and four were for Nashville.
The Predators will continue their road trip in Anaheim Friday night to face the Ducks in the Honda Center at 9:00 CT. This will be the Predators first time seeing the Ducks since receiving the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl inside Bridgestone last playoffs.
