After the franchise's largest comeback in its history on Tuesday, the Nashville Predators get a quick rematch with the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. This time it's at the "Shark Tank".
The Predators are riding their longest winning streak of the season, which sits at four games. It took coming back from a 5-1 deficit in the second period and a total of six unanswered goals for a final score of 7-5. And empty net goal by Filip Forsberg extended his goal streak to six games.
The Sharks chased Juuse Saros out of the game following the first period with four goals on only eight shots. It is not yet confirmed if Saros will start on Thursday, or if the Predators will ride the hot hand of Justus Annunen who stabilized things and ended up stopping 15 of 16 shots faced.
Nick Blankenburg got the game-winner and has really settled in to an important role for the Predators. One that couldn't have been seen coming in the preseason.
Let's get down to it; here are my three keys to success for the Predators, who sit 10 points back of the second wildcard position as they're trying to replicate what the St. Louis Blues pulled off in 2019.
Key #1: Max out the intensity level from the opening faceoff
This should be obvious, but unfortunately for this Predators team it needs to be hammered home. I don't like the Predators' chances of making another comeback win over the Sharks if they repeat what happened on Tuesday in the first period.
The Predators came out flat footed and lackadaisical on defense to open the game on Tuesday. The Sharks were beating them up ice in transition. No excuse to let a team that is 30th in the NHL in goal scoring blast you for three quick goals shortly after the opening puck drop.
Luckily, I don't see the Predators letting this happen again. They should come in laser-focused on defense and understand that Tuesday's comeback was exhilarating, but also not a habit you want to get into.
You have to realize the Sharks are playing with basically no pressure on themselves. They can let it fly and take more risks, which can spell doom for a team like the Predators who do have a razor thin margin for error the rest of the season. You can't come out flat again. And I don't expect them to. Lesson learned.
#2: Bouncing back between pipes
I would expect Juuse Saros to get the nod again after getting torched for four goals in the first period on Tuesday. They weren't all squarely on his shoulders with horrendous defense in front of him, but Head Coach Andrew Brunette will probably want to get his star goaltender back in there.
That being said, I'm also not opposed to giving Annunen the start, either. You can make a case to start either one, which is a good problem to have. I'm fully comfortable with either goalie getting the start, because both should benefit from better defense to open the game and shouldn't have much problems holding back a low-scoring Sharks team.
If the defense shows up on time today, unlike on Tuesday, then holding the Sharks to minimal shots on net shouldn't be an enormous task to undertake. The Sharks are 28th in the NHL in shots per game 26.6, and even in their five-goal effort on Tuesday they struggled to muster up a high quantity of shots until the third period came and the Predators had already completed their comeback.
Whether it's Saros or Annunen, I'm expected a solid performance in net to keep the Sharks under three goals.
#3: Control the possession and make the Sharks go length of the ice
This key is going back to the basics. Play a smart and disciplined game and don't fall victim to a track meet style game that gives the Sharks opportunities for transition plays like they did on Tuesday to jump out to that 5-1 lead.
The Predators play their best hockey when they're winning the battles in the trenches. Crashing the board, controlling the puck battles and setting up their offense. Efficient line changes to make the Sharks beat you by going end to end.
I like the Predators talent and skill level much better than that of the Sharks if this is the style of game we see. However, if the Predators allow a lot of open ice to operate and lets the Sharks use their decent team speed, then I can see another scenario of the Predators giving up some early goals again.
Yaroslav Askarov is expected to get the start against his former team that drafted him and then traded him just before this season started. He's an animated character and has lived up to the reputation in nine starts with San Jose, posting an impressive .913 save percentage.
You're going to have to get a high quantity of shots on Askarov to beat him. And you're going to need to jump on him early, just how the Sharks did to Saros on Tuesday. Flip the script, and you can do so by winning the physical battle and controlling that puck possession. Grind the young Sharks down with physicality and you should be able to win this game rather comfortably.
My trust is still broken for this Predators team after what they've put me through in the first half of the season, but I do think they'll learn from Tuesday's disasterous start and come out blazing tonight.
I'm going with a 4-2 final score prediction that will extend the winning streak to five, and the point streak in head-to-head matchups with the Sharks to 15 games. The top line cooks again, but the goaltending rebounds for a solid game as well.