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Dumont, Predators spoil Guerin's debut with Sharks

Mar 1, 2007 - 8:12 AM SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Bill Guerin's debut with the San Jose Sharks stared off well enough but it was not enough to halt the team's recent slide.

J.P. Dumont scored in the fourth round of the shootout as the Nashville Predators posted a 4-3 victory over the Sharks.

San Jose, which is now 2-6-0 in its last eight, acquired the four-time All-Star right wing from the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Guerin had 19 goals and 47 points in 61 games with St. Louis.

Guerin played on a line with Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo and looked comfortable with his new teammates but he was kept off the scoreboard.

"I feel comfortable (already) I didn't have my best game, but I like the way our team played," Guerin said. "We've got a lot of talent. It was an adjustment playing on the left, but that takes time."

"I thought he did a lot of good things," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "He gets room, he's got poise with the puck and he's only going to get better as we move along."

Tomas Vokoun saved three of San Jose's four shootout attempts to remain unbeaten in his last six starts against the Sharks. Dumont then beat Evgeni Nabokov to end the home-ice advantage that has defined this series. The home team had won the previous 11 matchups

"Just before I went I asked Paul (Kariya) who went before me and Radulov, they told me that (Nabokov) takes a lot of space there but if you make a move like he has to open his legs to move quick to the left side," Dumont said. "I did pretty much the same move as Paul but coming in when I faked it I went five hole right away. I just went for it and he opened right away so he gave me a half second to shoot at it and it was a big goal."

Trailing entering the third period, Martin Erat and Alexander Radulov scored power-play goals to give Nashville a 3-2 lead. Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic made it 4-4 with a tally with 4:08 left in regulation.

Nashville now has a league-leading 90 points and are 4-0-1 in their last five. The Predators have won the first two games of their five-game road trip, both in shootouts.