San Jose
– Nothing against the fans at the HP Pavilion, but the Sharks
would prefer to not see them Sunday.
San Jose – Nothing against the fans at the HP Pavilion, but the Sharks would prefer to not see them Sunday.
San Jose, fresh off a 3-2 win over the Predators in Wednesday’s Game 4, will have its chance to clinch the best of seven first-round series when its hits the ice at 6pm today in Nashville. A sixth game, if needed, would be Sunday night in San Jose.
In order to get to this situation, the Sharks built built a 2-0 lead Wednesday and held on for the victory in front of another packed home crowd.
Rookie Joe Pavelski garnered his first-ever Stanley Cup Playoff goal 1:06 into the second period to make it 2-0 San Jose. The Sharks managed the first period’s only goal when Milan Michalek jabbed home a feed from Joe Thornton from behind the Nashville net 3:29 into the action.
Nashville, still seeking its first road victory in three years of post-season action, fashioned a 14-5 edge in shots in the opening 20 minutes.
The Predators nearly scored in the game’s first 40 seconds when winger J. P. Dumont sped around the Sharks defense before whistling a shot wide of the net from 15 feet out.
“(Nashvile) had a lot of shots in the first period, but Nabby (Evgeni Nabokov) bailed us out,” said defenseman Scott Hannan.
The second period produced three goals as the teams fired eight shots apiece.
Pavelski, who scored 14 goals in 46 games in the regular season, took his time carrying the puck across the Nashville blueline unmarked after taking a pass from Kyle McLaren. The center then drilled a shot from atop the left circle past Vokoun’s left shoulder and into the net for the 2-0 cushion.
“There was a little gap there,” said Pavelski of his trip into the Nashville zone. “I just held up a second (before shooting).”
After being denied on six scoring chances in the game’s first 22 minutes, the Predators finally converted when Jason Arnott skated toward the crease and tapped in Peter Forsberg’s feed from the endboards at 2:32 of the second.
The Sharks regained the two-goal edge when Michalek tallied his second goal of the game and fourth of the series.
