Predators-Sharks Preview
Home-ice advantage has meant everything so far between the San Jose Sharks and the Nashville Predators.
The Sharks are hoping that trend continues.
They'll try to shake off a draining loss as they host a pivotal Game 5 on Saturday in this Western Conference semifinal series.
Nashville evened the series in the longest game in its franchise history and longest of the entire 2016 postseason with a 4-3 victory in triple overtime Thursday on Mike Fisher's second goal of the game. San Jose led in the third period before Roman Josi's goal with 4:21 remaining.
"We'd like to be up but it is what it is and we're going home, we've got two more home games so we've got to make sure that we win 'em," Sharks goalie Martin Jones said.
The home team has won every game, although San Jose had chances to prevent that by outshooting Nashville 25-18 after regulation.
"We had two really good periods in overtime," said center Logan Couture, who had two assists. "Those were our best periods of the series, I think. It's tough we couldn't find a way. We had five or six Grade-A chances. That's the way playoff hockey goes sometimes."
The Predators, who have never advanced past this round, were ecstatic after Pekka Rinne made 44 saves and Colin Wilson had a goal and two assists.
''I don't care how these wins come if we have to play all night,'' Rinne said. ''It's 2-2 right now.''
Nashville used better penalty killing at home to get back into the series. The Predators allowed three power-play goals in five chances in San Jose before yielding one in nine in their two home wins.
The Sharks remain confident after outshooting the Predators for the third time in the series, and coach Pete DeBoer bristled when asked why he liked the way San Jose was playing.
"You watched the game, we were good," DeBoer said.
The coach was also angry after a disallowed goal by Joe Pavelski in the first overtime in which the forward was whistled for goaltender interference for crashing into Rinne. Pavelski felt the contact was incidental.
"There's nothing really we can do now other than move on and get ready for the next one," Jones said.
Couture has a team-high six points in the series and Brent Burns has five after the defenseman scored his first two goals of the series Thursday.
Wilson tops Nashville with six points in the series, with seven in a five-game postseason run. Filip Forsberg continued his rough postseason by going pointless for the eighth time in nine games Thursday after leading the Predators in the regular season with 64 points.
Nashville center Mike Ribeiro was a healthy scratch for both home games after he saw ice time in the first two in San Jose.
The Sharks have limited the Predators to one power-play goal in 19 chances in the last eight meetings at home, including the first two in this series.
"The series never gets easier, it only gets harder," Pavelski said. "We have to step up our game, get a big win on home ice and go from there."
This contest takes place 44 hours after Game 4 ended.
''You've got to take care of yourself physically,'' Rinne said. ''The next Game 5 is going to be a big one, for both teams it's going to be a long travel and then play again. By that time, you have to be recovered and ready to go."