Nashville Predators Thwart San Jose Sharks’ Comeback Effort in 6-5 Win

Following the largest comeback win in franchise history Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena, the Nashville Predators once again beat the San Jose Sharks, 6-5, in another high-scoring affair Thursday at SAP Center.

Brady Skjei paced the Predators with three points (all assists), while four other players had two points apiece. The Predators extended their season-long win streak to five games, moving them to 18-22-7 on the season.

The goaltending matchup featured Nashville’s Justus Annunen against San Jose’s Yaroslav Askarov, the Predators’ first-round draft pick in 2020 who requested a trade out of Nashville last August after the team signed Juuse Saros to an eight-year contract extension. Annunen made 30 saves on 35 shots, while Askarov made 32 saves on 38 shots.

How the Predators lined up vs. San Jose

Forsberg-Stamkos-Marchessault
Nyquist-O’Reilly-Hinostroza
Novak-Svechkov-L’Heureux
Smith-McCarron-Sissons

Josi-Barron
Skjei-Blankenburg
Wilsby-Schenn

Annunen
Saros

Extra: Stastney, Bellows, Jankowski (inj.)

IR: Lauzon, Evangelista

Game Summary

This game wasn’t lacking for action early, with five goals and three fights in the opening 20 minutes. Gustav Nyquist got things going with a power play goal less than four minutes in, burying a cross ice feed from Tommy Novak to give Nashville a 1-0 lead. Novak proceeded to net a goal himself at even strength less than a minute later, knocking in a rebound in front of the San Jose net.

Filip Forsberg then tipped in a pass from Justin Barron to beat Askarov and put the Predators up 3-0 at the 6:53 mark.

Desperate to spark something in his team, former Predators forward Luke Kunin dropped the gloves with Cole Smith right off the face-off at the 6:54 mark. Two more fights followed – Michael McCarron vs. Barclay Goodrow, and Zachary L’Heureux vs. Ty Dellandrea – as just a handful of seconds ticked off the game clock. While Nashville seemed to have the edge in each of the three tilts, the Sharks saw an energy boost and got one goal back from Walker Duehr at the 8:12 mark.

Duehr’s goal gave San Jose some momentum in the second half of the period, and sustained pressure in Nashville’s end resulted in a Mario Ferraro wrist shot that cut the Sharks’ deficit to 3-2 at 16:34 of the first period.

Forsberg extended Nashville’s lead with his second goal of the game early in the second period, scoring on the wraparound to make it 4-2 at the 1:38 mark. Then, with former Predators forward Mikael Granlund in the box for hooking against Steven Stamkos, it took Nashville’s red-hot power play just 18 seconds to find the back of the net a second time. Stamkos cleaned up the rebound on a Jonathan Marchessault laser from the face-off circle at the 7:07 mark to extend Nashville’s lead to 5-2.

Henry Thrun brought the Sharks within two at the 12:39 mark, lining up a shot to beat Annunen from the high slot to make it 5-3. Less than a minute later, Fabian Zetterlund backhanded the puck into a wide open net while Annunen was pinned outside of the crease to make it 5-4.

With 5:37 left in a wild second period, Cole Smith was assessed a match penalty for a check to the head on Ty Dellandrea near the Sharks’ bench. McCarron and Timothy Liljegren each earned two-minute roughing minors in the ensuing scuffle, and Macklin Celebrini scored on the major penalty to tie the game 5-5 at the 15:21 mark.

They are calling this a major penalty on Cole Smith. Replay shows plenty of shoulder contact, but nothing that appears major worthy. pic.twitter.com/VVtWDHoOdX

— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) January 24, 2025

The Predators tallied their third power play goal of the evening – a laser from the top of the face-off circle by Fedor Svechkov that beat Askarov blocker-side – to retake the one-goal lead at 8:16 of the final frame.

San Jose battled back in an intense third period that featured a wild sequence that

Key Takeaways & Notes

After snapping a career worst 18-game goal drought Jan. 7 against the Winnipeg Jets, Forsberg has goals in seven consecutive games, matching the franchise record that he set last season from March 13-28, 2024. According to NHL PR, Forsberg became the third active player with multiple seven-game goal streaks, joining Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs (3) and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning (2).
Novak had a goal and an assist in the first five minutes of the first period to extend his point streak to three games; he has six points (2 goals, 4 assists) in that span. Novak’s three-point night (1 goal, 2 assists) Tuesday against San Jose was his first multipoint performance of the season.
With a helper on Stamkos’ power play goal in the second period, Marchessault extended his assist streak to nine games. He now has a 10-game point streak for the first time in his career, beating his previous career high of eight from Dec. 10-27, 2024. He 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) in his last 19 games.
Svechkov extended his goal streak to three games with his game-winning power play tally in the third period.
Dellandrea left the game after the check that earned Smith a match penalty in the second period and did not return.

Up Next

The Predators will wrap up their two-game swing through California with a Saturday night tilt against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center. The puck drops at 9 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast regionally on FanDuel Sports Network South and on ESPN+ for out-of-market customers in the United States.

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