SAN JOSE,Calif. (AP) - Timo Meier saw an opening, and the San Jose Sharks’ forward took advantage.
Meier scored in the seventh round of the shootout and the Sharks beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 on Saturday night.
“I was just reading off the goalie and I saw that far side was open,” Meier said. “I just wanted to get it up.”
Tomas Hertl scored in regulation to help the Sharks win their third straight after losing seven of eight. Martin Jones had 24 saves through overtime and then denied all seven Nashville attempts in the tiebreaker.
“Shootouts you never know, but we finished it,” Hertl said. “I’m just happy for the great effort and for Jonesy because he played great.”
Filip Forsberg had a goal for the Predators, who lost for the fourth time in five games after winning four straight. Saros finished with 31 saves through the extra period and didn’t allow anything to the first six San Jose skaters in the shootout.
“He was really good,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said of Saros. “I think the guys played hard in front of him, it was just a grinding game and defensively I thought we did a pretty good job of trying to take care of them in the offensive zone but there’s obviously going to be some opportunities that come with a team that’s got talent like that.”
The Predators finished 0 for 4 on the power play against the NHL’s top penalty-killing unit. They had a 4-on-3 for the last 1:31 of overtime after Evander Kane was called for hooking.
San Jose has killed off 94.0% (62 of 68) of its disadvantages, including 96.9% (30 of 31) at home.
The Predators got on the scoreboard first with 5:16 left in the second when Forsberg slipped a wrist shot past Jones from eight feet out after the Predators’ forward got past All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson. Rookie defenseman Dante Fabbro had an assist on Forsberg’s eighth, which tied him for the team lead.
The Sharks tied it on Hertl’s seventh at 5:22 of the third, knocking in the rebound of a shot by Marc-Edouard Vlasic from just inside the blue line.
The Sharks are slowly recovering from a disastrous start, especially for a team that last season was within two wins of the Stanley Cup Final.
“We all knew we weren’t playing up to our standards, and kind of forgot how the game is played a little bit for a while, and that’s why we’re in the situation we’re in now,” Karlsson said. “It feels like we’re finally starting to look like the team we’re supposed to be.”
Nashville was coming off a disastrous 9-4 loss at Colorado on Thursday.
“Obviously we didn’t show up that game and we knew we were going to be better and we were, but at the same time should’ve won the game,” Forsberg said.
“It was a better effort today than Thursday; we had chances and should have capitalized.”
NOTES: Hertl has a goal in three straight games with six points (three goals, three assists) over that stretch. He has 18 points in his last 13 games (seven goals, 11 assists). … Forsberg extended his points streak to four games, with three goals and two assists over that stretch. … Fabbro left the game after being struck in the face by a puck in front of the Predators’ goal late in the second period. He came back into the game late in the third. … Sharks F Melker Karlsson was back in the lineup after missing two games with an upper body injury. . D Mario Ferraro was out of the San Jose lineup with an undisclosed injury after taking a hard hit in Thursday’s game against Minnesota. Ferraro was replaced in the lineup by D Tim Heed, a scratch in each of the previous two games. … Sharks D Dalton Prout (upper body) was activated from the injured reserve. … F Lean Bergmann was reassigned to the San Jose Barracuda, the Sharks’ AHL affiliate. . Jones played in his 300th game.
UP NEXT
Predators: At Vancouver on Tuesday night.
Sharks: Host Edmonton on Tuesday night.
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