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. Nashville Predators forward Jonathan Marchessault speaks to the media following the team's 7-5 win over the San Jose Sharks at Bridgestone Arena. 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. 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 * undefined * undefined * undefined * undefined * undefined 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. Visit The Hockey News Nashville Predators [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/] team site to stay updated on the latest news [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/latest-news], game day [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/game-day] coverage, player features [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/players], podcasts [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators/podcasts] and more. RECENT PREDATORS NEWS
