SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – Kiefer Sherwood scored twice, Filip Forsberg added his 27th point of the season and the Nashville Predators defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-2 on Saturday night for their fourth straight win.
Juuse Saros made 23 saves and Gustav Nyquist scored into an empty net. After losing 9-2 at home to Dallas on February 15, the Predators won the first four of five games in hopes of making the playoffs.
“We're just going to keep moving forward,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “I think we’ve been on the road here throughout this period.”
Filip Zadina and Mikael Granlund scored for San Jose, and Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 31 shots.
Sherwood scored two goals, just the second game of his career. He has five goals in 14 career games with the Sharks, the most by any team for the six-year veteran. Granlund pulled within a point 30 minutes into the period, and his second marker in the third period gave Nashville a two-goal lead.
Sherwood took advantage of San Jose's strong shots, which rimmed the perimeter and sparked Nashville's rush. He fired a shot past the Sharks' Henry Thrun and past Kahkonen to make it 3-1.
“I was a little hesitant,” Sherwood said. “I was able to get around them, so I cut down the middle and tried to take a shot.”
Thrun, in his second season, said his attempt to be aggressive backfired because he misread the play.
“I only made one mistake. In the NHL, that's a clear sign that you can make it,” Thrun said.
“I'm feeling kind of good” as the Predators look to win a five-game road trip that begins Sunday in Anaheim.
“Fourth place is great, but we had to find a way to finish strong and get fifth place, because points are at stake here. And it's playoff hockey,” Sherwood said. said.
Zadina scored midway through the period to make it 3-2, but San Jose was unable to score the tying goal late in the period and Nyquist added an empty netter.
San Jose has dropped five of its past six. The Sharks had four days off before the game, while the Predators have three games in four nights.
“It was frustrating tonight because we had some really good stretches and then we had some really tough stretches,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. The first thing is to get rid of bad stretches.”
Forsberg took a penalty for tripping Slun and then hit a wrist shot from the right point on the power play to give Nashville a 2-0 lead late in the second. Forsberg passed David Lewand for second place in franchise points with 567 points. Forsberg, 29, played briefly for Lewand at the beginning of his career.
“It's cool,” Forsberg said. “I think that’s something I’ll look back on when I get gray and older and obviously think about it a little bit more.”
next
Predators: At Anaheim on Sunday.
Sharks: Host New Jersey on Tuesday night.
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