NHL Update: San Jose Sharks snuck past Nashville Predators, 2-1
Patrick Marleau lit the lamp in extra session, as San Jose Sharks exploded for a 2-1 victory against Nashville Predators, at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night.
Devin Setoguchi also found the back of the net, while Antti Niemi turned away 30 shots for San Jose, which had lost its last two games.
Cody Franson tallied the lone goal for Nashville, which had won three of four contests coming in. Pekka Rinne allowed two goals on 50 shots in the losing effort.
Predators opened the scoring of the game to take 1-0 lead in the seventh minute of the opening stanza, as Franson deked Niemi with a soft wrist shot from the right circle.
“We lost the first 10 minutes of the game,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “We weren’t really in it. I think I looked up at one point and the shots were 8-1 for Nashville. They were much faster and quicker than we were. But we found a way to work back
into it in the last 54 minutes. That’s the way it is when you play against a team like this. Predators are a team which is going to come out hard early. You have to find a way to weather the storm.”
Sharks knotted it at 1-1 just before the midway mark of the middle frame, when Setoguchi drifted with the puck down the right wing and fired a high shot past Rinne.
“The puck was kind of following our line around,” Setoguchi said. “I probably should have a couple more goals than I actually did.”
Rinne made 17 saves in the final intermission, while Niemi stopped seven shots to send the game into extra session.
"Rinne stopped a lot of rubber," Marleau said. "We wanted to throw a lot of rubber at him and he stood in there tall. He is definitely one of the top goalies in the league."
In overtime, a turnover in the neutral zone resulted in Marleau grabbing the puck and rushing into the Predators zone by himself. From down low, he stuffed the puck past Rinne to cap the scoring at 2-1.
"We didn't manage the puck in traffic at their blue line. There was a lot of room. Marleau came off of the bench and we had 'D' up on the play, probably a little too tight. But it starts with the guy managing the puck at the blue line," Predators head coach,
Barry Trotz, said.
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