Mikael Granlund scored two goals in a three-point game and Nino Niederreiter tallied twice to lead the visiting Nashville Predators to a 6-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Tommy Novak registered one goal and one assist and Yakov Trenin added a goal for the Predators, who have won three of four games. Matt Duchene collected three assists while goaltender Juuse Saros made 22 saves.
Nico Sturm and Martin Kaut replied for the Sharks, who have lost four of five games. Goalie James Reimer stopped 25 shots.
Due to injuries, the Predators were without top-line forwards Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg, and the Sharks missed star Timo Meier for a second consecutive game.
Niederreiter’s power-play goal opened the scoring at the 6:24 mark when his long shot ricocheted off a defender’s stick and into the cage.
Granlund doubled the lead 88 seconds into the second period. After a blocked shot came right to him, Granlund sniped an offering from the left faceoff dot.
Sturm put the Sharks on the board with a short-handed goal at 8:37 of the middle frame when he chased down a loose puck in the neutral zone and converted the breakaway for his career-high 12th goal of the season.
However, Granlund restored the two-goal edge at 13:34 of the period by finishing a give-and-go with Philip Tomasino for his ninth of the campaign.
Trenin added a short-handed goal with 29 seconds remaining in the middle frame, finishing a feed from Cole Smith for his eighth goal of the season.
Kaut again made it a two-goal deficit with his tally 50 seconds into the third period, his second of the season and first since being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche.
But Niederreiter’s second of the night, and fourth in three games, midway through the third period quashed any comeback hopes. His pass attempt banked off a defender’s stick and into the goal for his 18th of the season.
Novak added a power-play goal with six minutes remaining, his fourth in four games and eighth of the season, to round out the scoring.
–Field Level Media
