Predators 2 - 3 Sharks
Final
  for this game

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Apr 30, 2016 - 7:14 PM San Jose's Peter DeBoer and Nashville's Peter Laviolette acknowledged after their second-round series opener that their teams can play better.

While that may sound like coachspeak, such remarks are appropriate after the Sharks struggled for the first 40 minutes and the Predators floundered in the last 20.

San Jose took Game 1 behind a dominant third period and will look to go up 2-0 on Sunday night before the series shifts to Nashville.

Playing for the first time in a week after eliminating Los Angeles in the first round, the Sharks came out a bit rusty Friday against the Predators. They entered the third period down 1-0 before erupting for five goals to rally for a 5-2 victory.

"Coming off the break, we had some questions of how we would be. I saw some of the effects of that the first two periods. We found a way," DeBoer said. "To be able to come out of Game 1 with a win even though I think we didn't play our best 60 minutes is good because I think we'll be better in Game 2."

Former Predators forward Joel Ward set up Tomas Hertl's power-play goal that tied the game early in the third before scoring the tiebreaker with 8:11 remaining. Logan Couture added a power-play goal and an empty-netter, and Tommy Wingels sealed it with another empty-net goal in the final minute.

''As the game went on we got better, and we could feel them on their heels a little bit,'' captain Joe Pavelski said. ''It was just good to see the guys keep feeding off the crowd, feeding off goals and really pushing for that next one.''

The Predators, who had just one day off after their Game 7 win in Anaheim, knew they had to play smart because they were going up against a team that had been locked in on the power play. They only took one penalty in the first two periods but allowed the Sharks to score on both of their man-advantage opportunities in the third.

San Jose has converted 29.2 percent of 24 power-play chances in the playoffs, going 5 for 7 in its last two home games, while Nashville has killed 78.6 percent of 28 penalties.

"We know they're dangerous on the power play and we can't put ourselves in that position too many times cause they're going to score goals," Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm said.

One bright spot for the Predators is they went 1 for 2 on the power play after going 1 for 26 in the Ducks series. Mike Fisher had the man-advantage goal early in the second period, and Ryan Johansen scored late in the third after Pekka Rinne was pulled for an extra skater.

"I thought it was an even game until they scored that third goal, so there's so positives, there's some negatives," Ekholm said. "But it's Game 1 out of seven, so we'll come back for Game 2."

Martin Jones made 29 saves for San Jose, which improved to 9-2 in the playoffs against Nashville.

The Sharks, who took a 2-0 series lead en route to beating the Kings in five games, are 7-2 in playoff series when winning the first two games.

Rinne stopped 33 of 36 shots for the Predators, who have been inconsistent defensively in their last five playoff games, surrendering 14 goals in three losses and two in a pair of wins.

"There were some good things and some bad things," Laviolette said. "We're capable of playing better."






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