Johansen, Saros Lead Preds to Overtime Triumph Against Sharks

Ryan Johansen scored at 3:18 of overtime, and the Nashville Predators defeated the San Jose Sharks by a 1-0 final on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result bumps the Preds to 89 points in the standings to stay in the Western Conference's first Wild Card spot in the 500th win at Bridgestone Arena in franchise history.
Goaltender Juuse Saros made 25 saves to earn his fourth shutout of the season, and the Predators began their season-long five-game homestand just the way they intended - with win No. 42 on the campaign.

Sixty minutes of regulation time went without a goal - including a Nashville tally that was overturned by a successful offside challenge from the Sharks - as Saros and Kaapo Kahkonen continued to turn aside their respective oppositions.
Overtime was needed to solve the goalless duel, and after both teams traded chances - including a massive breakaway stop from Saros on San Jose's Tomas Hertl - the Preds ended the night.
Johansen was looking for teammate Mattias Ekholm on a cross-crease dish, but the pass never made it there, instead deflecting off the stick of Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson and over the line to give Nashville a much-needed extra point.

Tuesday Storyline:

Better late than never.
Over 63 minutes of hockey were needed for someone to find the back of the net, and oftentimes on nights such as this, the eventual winner is hardly spectacular.
After Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen - a puck-stopper Juuse Saros used to face back in their native Finland as teenagers - continued to deny the Preds time after time, a deflection off of his own San Jose teammate was the shot that finally solved the stalemate.
And the Predators will certainly take it.
"Great effort by the whole group," Johansen said. "We just stuck with it the whole time. [We weren't] getting any puck luck tonight. Nothing was easy, and we just had to keep pressing, keep playing. Juice was a stud, obviously. They had some chances, and when they did, he was there. Two points, that's all that matters."
"I really liked our team's game tonight," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "I thought we came ready to play and played the game the right way. Credit to San Jose, they battled and they played hard and they didn't make it an easy night. I thought overall the style of game that we played with gives us the best chance to win night in and night out."
As Johansen said, in an instance such as this, the best course of action is to simply keep pressing and throwing pucks on net. The Predators did that, and finally, the plan worked.
"In a game like that, for sure," Johansen said of the mindset to just keep playing. "We're getting good chances and we're doing a lot of good things, dominating the play for a lot of the game, it seemed like. There weren't many adjustments really. We just needed to keep going."
"We played a good game," Saros said. "We found the net, and their goalie was obviously so good. I am happy to get the two points."

As has been the case many times previously this season, the Preds wouldn't have made it to overtime had it not been for the play of Saros, and he was Nashville's best player once more.
"Juice had some timely saves tonight, for sure," Hynes said. "And I think that's what happens sometimes where you're pressing a little bit to try to be able to score, and I think that's an area we can do a little bit better job. But Juice came up with some key saves at key times for us. That's what makes him the quality goaltender that he is, and he gives you a chance every night. There's some nights he gets a ton of work and finds a way to win. Tonight, he didn't get a ton of work, but he got some quality work and he made big saves at key times."
The Predators now find themselves in single digits in the games remaining department, and with the Western Conference standings remaining tight, they know every point matters - and then some.
But a night like this is just one more example of how Nashville is equipped to find a way to win, and they did just that.
"Tonight was a little bit more of that mental grind, which is why we talk a lot about mental and physical toughness in the core fabric of our team," Hynes said. "I liked the way the guys were responding. It's an easy game where you feel like things could go off the rails - guys could press, guys could get frustrated - but I felt throughout the game on the bench and in between periods we talked about solutions and staying with it. I'm just proud of the guys for sticking with it, and it certainly feels like they deserved the two points."

Highlight of the Night:

They Said It:

Ryan Johansen on getting a boost from the home crowd:
"The crowd is huge, especially having a little homestand here. We have a great opportunity to have some success here at home. The schedule lines up great, and starting off with a win is awesome. We're going to need [our fans] down the stretch."

Notes:

Saros returned to the lineup after missing Sunday's game due to a non-COVID illness, and defenseman Mark Borowiecki also played after leaving Sunday's contest with an injury. Preds defensemen Matt Benning, Ben Harpur and Jeremy Davies were scratched against the Sharks.
Saros turned aside all 25 shots he faced to record his NHL-leading 36th win of the season (36-22-3). The only Predators goaltender to record more in a single season was Pekka Rinne (43 in 2011-12, 42 in 2017-18 and 41 in 2014-15).
Nashville's five-game homestand continues on Thursday night when the Edmonton Oilers come to town before a weekend set arrives with the Chicago Blackhawks and the St. Louis Blues.