SAN JOSE – Frustrations boiled over for the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night in the early going of their game with the Nashville Predators at SAP Center.
Showing surprisingly little life after the opening faceoff, the Sharks allowed three goals to the Predators in the game’s first 6:53, with Gus Nyquist, Tommy Novak, and Filip Forsberg all beating rookie goalie Yaroslav Askarov.
Then, the fireworks began.
Sharks alternate captain Luke Kunin, trying to spark his team, quickly dropped the gloves with Predators forward Cole Smith at the 6:54 mark. Right after the ensuing faceoff, Barclay Goodrow fought Nashville winger Michael McCarron at the 6:56 mark. Two seconds after the next faceoff, Ty Dellandrea had a quick scrap with Zachaery L’Heureux.
That’s three fights in four seconds.
That brought the Shark Tank crowd to life and injected some energy into the Sharks, who looked like a different team from that point forward.
Walker Duehr, a waiver claim by San Jose on Wednesday, scored his first goal of the season at the 8:12 mark, with Mario Ferraro and Nikolai Kovalenko getting the assists. Then, at the 16:34 mark, Ferraro scored his career-high fifth of the season off assists from Mikael Granlund and Timothy Liljegren.
Thursday’s game came two days after the Sharks blew a 5-1 lead to the Predators and lost 7-5 at Bridgestone Arena. The loss was San Jose’s fourth straight and 18th in their last 22 games.
The Sharks trailed the Predators 3-2 going into the second period. But just 1:38 into the second period, Forsberg scored his second goal with a wraparound shot past Askarov, who was acquired from the Predators by the Sharks in August and was making his first start against his former team.
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