The Nashville Predators enter Thursday 10 points out of playoff position with 36 games remaining as they head to San Jose to face the Sharks.
On the heels of their wild 7-5 comeback victory over the Sharks on Tuesday in the first half of a home-and-home set, the Predators are riding a four-game winning streak — their longest of the season. Nashville has a renewed hope that it can make a miracle run in the final three dozen games.
“Over the last month, I think we’ve been trying to build towards that (belief),” said defenseman Nick Blankenburg, who scored the game-winning goal in Tuesday’s victory. “We’ve played some good hockey teams and have played some good hockey in the last month. And I think just continuing to build off of that has been big for us.”
Last season, the Predators rode a midseason 16-0-2 run that vaulted them into the playoffs. They had high hopes coming into this campaign after adding a trio of big-name free agents in Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei. Instead, they struggled in the first half of the campaign.
The first four-goal comeback in franchise history — after trailing San Jose 5-1 just past the midway point — is a huge boost to their hopes.
“We’ve been playing well the past, I want to say, six, seven weeks,” said Marchessault, who scored once in a four-point game and is riding a nine-game point streak. “We’ve played some good hockey, and we’re into most games, but some nights we just didn’t find a way to win games. … So it’s definitely positive.”
The Predators have won 11 consecutive clashes with San Jose, and 13 of 14.
On the other side of that coin, the Sharks must find a way to regroup after such a disappointing loss.
On the plus, they built a 3-0 lead on Nashville in the first 12 minutes and extended that edge to four goals by the middle of the clash. Even so, the end result cuts deeply.
“We played a pretty good first half of the game, and after that they started playing better, and we just couldn’t answer for that,” said San Jose forward Mikael Granlund, who scored twice. “So that’s (a) pretty embarrassing end.”
Embarrassing and a continuation of yet another losing skid for the squad that sits at the bottom of the league standings. As they prepare to host the rematch, the Sharks have lost four straight games and managed only one victory in eight outings.
Going further back, San Jose has managed only four victories in 22 games (4-17-1).
“We’re all extremely frustrated,” coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “We have to learn and get better. … We’ll prepare our bodies to play a hockey game Thursday against the same team.”
On Wednesday, the Sharks made a few moves. Forward Nico Sturm was placed on injury reserve due to a lower-body injury. Minor league forward Justin Bailey was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for forward Pavol Regenda.
San Jose then claimed forward Walker Duehr off waivers from the Calgary Flames. Duehr, 27, has collected one assist in 16 games this season and could be in the lineup on Thursday.
–Field Level Media
