The Nashville Predators are on a four-game winning streak and occupy the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference as they prepare to host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.
The Predators’ latest win was a 3-2 overtime victory over the host Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
Filip Forsberg had a hand in all three goals with two tallies, including the OT winner, and an assist.
Nashville (33-28-9, 75 points) is two points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings, its nearest competitor for the last Western Conference playoff position.
“We want to move up,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “We want to keep moving forward. We don’t want to look back. We’ve been a resilient group that has a lot of belief in ourselves, and we’re just going to keep moving forward. We haven’t dwelled on where we were (in the standings) once all year, even when we were kind of at the bottom looking up. We’re going to keep that same attitude here going forward.”
Steven Stamkos’ goal midway through the third period tied the contest 2-2.
He and Forsberg are Nashville’s leading goal scorers. Stamkos has 34 goals this season, while Forsberg has 32. The overtime goal was the 350th of Forsberg’s career.
Juuse Saros made 27 saves Sunday in his return after missing two games with an upper-body injury.
“Obviously, ‘Juice’ (Saros) was outstanding, and we got out of here with a W,” Brunette said. “I thought both goalies — I thought Spencer (Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight) was really good — especially at different stretches of the game where we put some pucks on him and (had) some pretty good looks. And ‘Juice’ coming back kind of right where he left off, I thought he was playing as good as I’ve been around him since the Olympics. His game’s at another level, and he showed it again tonight.”
The Sharks (32-30-6, 70 points) have lost four straight games, falling 4-1 to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
San Jose, which is five points behind Nashville in the wild-card chase, has been outscored 21-8 during the losing streak.
“It’s not so much someone, we just need more guys going. We need more guys going throughout our games,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “With this time of year, you need your full bench going. You’ve got to fight for every inch.”
Tyler Toffoli, the team’s third-leading scorer with 44 points (18 goals, 26 assists) missed Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury. His status is unknown for Tuesday.
Macklin Celebrini, who assisted on the Sharks’ goal by defenseman Dmitri Orlov on Sunday, is the team leader with 96 points (35 goals, 61 assists).
Defenseman Vincent Desharnais also did not play Saturday because of an upper-body injury.
Desharnais, Igor Chernyshov and goaltender Yaroslav Askarov practiced Monday. Chernyshov has missed four games with a concussion and Askarov six games with a lower-body injury.
Warsofsky said Desharnais and Chernyshov could possibly play against the Predators.
It also appears that Askarov will be available because goaltender Laurent Brossoit was sent to San Jose of the American Hockey League on Monday.
Ryan Reaves did not play after the first period Saturday because of a left-hand injury and is listed as week-to-week.
–Field Level Media
