In San Jose, the only way to really convey the score from Saturday night’s match between the visiting Nashville Predators and the Sharks is by the scoresheet that lists Nashville’s Michael McCarron, Matt Luff, and Matt Duchene each hitting doubles in an 8-0 thrashing of the Sharks 
“Regardless of the score, I think the process of the game was good,” Predators coach John Hynes said. “We were harder on pucks, we got to the scoring areas, (and) we found ways to be able to put the puck in the net.”
Juuse Saros made 20 saves for the shutout win.
Nashville improved to 31-20-4.
“That’s a great bounce back for the team (following a 4-3 loss at the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday),” Luff said. “We [took] that off day and kind of looked in the mirror and just realized it’s not a way to make the playoffs, and we want to be a playoff team at the end of the day. Look at that 60 minutes (tonight), and that’s a pretty solid game we had.”
Yakov Trenin and Mikael Granlund added single markers t close out the scoring.
San Jose fell to 24-25-6.
“We’re embarrassed. You lose by that large of a margin, no one’s feeling good about themselves,” San Jose’s Logan Couture said. “We had a good talk in the room after the game. It’s pretty evident that’s not good enough.”
It seems the For Sale sign will be hung out at the SAP arena sooner rather than later
“I think, regardless of the score, at 3-0 I thought we’re actually playing a pretty competitive game,” Sharks coach Bob Boughner said. “We were playing pretty hard. We only gave up two chances in the first period and we only generated one, so it was pretty even in the first period regardless of the shot clock. … Once it [became] 4-0, we got away from our game and you start pressing and things start going in, and that’s a snowball you can’t stop.”
The Sharks are seventh in the Pacific Division, and with the Vancouver Canucks making noise ahead of them, there is just no room for a mistake like an 8-0 loss.
“[The Sharks] are so good at protecting the puck, especially along the boards and getting to the net, so I just tried to get open and maybe feed them in front,” The Preds’ Philip Tomasino said. “Our first goal today was kind of that exact same thing. McCarron kind of chipped out to me and I kind of fed it back to him. He obviously had a nice shot there. I think the biggest thing for us is just trying to get pucks to the net.”
Newly acquired Alex Stalock made 22 saves as the starter, he surrendered six goals.
“Obviously, it was very exciting after going through the stuff medically,” Stalock said. “It was a great opportunity. Obviously, it would have been much nicer [to have] a better result.”
Zach Sawchenko made six saves in a mop up role.
“This is a teachable tape for sure,” Boughner said. “The good part is we’re going back to work tomorrow. We’ve got to put that one behind us and play an Anaheim team that is desperate.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.