Sharks’ stirring comeback in wild game not enough in loss to Predators

SAN JOSE – Fights, scrums, a stirring comeback and tons of goals.

Thursday night’s game between the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators at SAP Center certainly didn’t lack entertainment value.

But the final result was just another loss for the Sharks.

After the Sharks erased a three-goal deficit in the second period, Fedor Svechkov’s power-play goal at the 8:16 mark of the third proved to be the game-winner as the Predators earned a wild 6-5 victory to sweep the home-and-home series between the two teams.

Mikael Granlund had three assists, and Mario Ferraro and Nikolai Kovalenko had two points each for the Sharks, who allowed three power-play goals en route to losing their fifth straight game.

Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov allowed six goals on 38 shots as he faced the Predators, who drafted him 11th overall in 2020, for the first time since San Jose acquired him in August.

San Jose trailed 5-2 after Predators forward Steven Stamkos scored a power-play goal at the 7:07 mark of the second period. But the Sharks responded with goals from Henry Thrun and Fabian Zetterlund, with Zetterlund’s goal at the 13:54 mark cutting Nashville’s lead to 5-4.

The Sharks were then awarded a five-minute major at the 14:13 mark of the second period, as Predators forward Cole Smith was assessed a match penalty for what appeared to be a high hit on Ty Dellandrea, who left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return.

Macklin Celebrini scored 1:08 later to tie the game 5-5. The goal, his 15th of the season, tied a team record set by Jeff Friesen during the 1994-95 season for most goals in a season by a Sharks 18-year-old.

The Sharks needed a response after a surprisingly slow start against the Predators, who, on Tuesday, erased a 5-1 San Jose lead and earned a 7-5 win.

The Sharks, doing too much standing around, trailed 3-0 in the first game’s first 6:53 as Gus Nyquist, Tommy Novak, and Filip Forsberg all beat rookie goalie Yaroslav Askarov.

Then, the fireworks began.

Sharks alternate captain Luke Kunin quickly dropped the gloves with 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 later, 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 goal of the season at the 8:12 mark, with Ferraro and 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.

The Sharks came into Thursday with a 0-10-1 record in last 11 games against the Predators, with their last win against Nashville coming on Nov. 9, 2019.

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