The Nashville Predators just needed home ice and some time on the power play to get back in their series with the San Jose Sharks.
Shea Weber had goal as Preds close deficit to one – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
In an 0-2 hole entering Game 3 Tuesday, the Predators scored twice on the power play and erased an early 1-0 deficit to upend the Sharks, 4-1.
James Neal and Filip Forsberg scored on the power play to break the Preds out of their slump.
“It felt good,” Neal said. “I thought we had a good mindset going into the game. I think we knew we were playing good hockey, needed to be a little bit better. Coming home, we knew we had to win one game, so big win and focus on the next one.”
Shea Weber and Colin Wilson also scored for Nashville.
“We weren’t getting frustrated,” Weber said. “We talked about just sticking with what’s made us successful throughout the year and what we need to do. I thought we did a good job tonight.”
The two power play goals matched the entire output for the post season through Tuesday.
“Our [power play] hasn’t been scoring as many goals as we want in the playoffs, but I think obviously in the playoffs that can be the determining factor in the games and it was tonight,” Forsberg said.
Patrick Marleau was the lone goal scorer for the Sharks; he broke in past the Preds defense and deked Pekka Rinne out of the net and gently slid the puck in the net.
“Yeah I just kicked it up and kept skating,” Marleau said. “I was able to get up back up the on the ice and get around Rinne. It felt good.”
Rinne finished with 26 saves for the win.
“We expect a battle every night,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “You just compete, and they did that and they’ve done that the first couple of games too. It’s no different. It’s a good team over there, it really is. We’ll be better in a few areas, and it’s going to be another tough game.”
Martin Jones took the loss on 21 saves.
Game 4 is in Nashville, Thursday (9 p.m. ET; CNBC, CBC, TVA Sports 2).
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