The San Jose Sharks were cruising into Nashville with a 2-0 lead in the series. They had won four straight and their confidence had to be sky high. What could possibly go wrong?

The answer is a lot. The Nashville Predators buried the Sharks en route to a 4-1 victory over the hottest team in hockey. The Sharks could only watch Colin Wilson and Filip Forsberg put the game out of reach with third period goals. New goaltender Martin Jones had his worst game of the postseason, and restarted the conversation on can the Sharks trust such an inexperienced goalie this deep into the playoffs.

In short, it was a bad game, but not necessarily one that means doom for the Sharks. They still have a lot going for them, which is the purpose of this article.

To start off with, Joe Pavelski has been one of the most consistent sniper in the league over the last three years. He is tied for second this post season with six goals. That is more than Jamie Benn or Vladimir Tarasenko. He is also tied for fifth with 10 points this post season. He has only been held pointless in two of the team’s games in this years post season, which also happens to be the team’s two losses.   

Pavelski isn’t the only one producing on the offensive end. Brent Burns is the defender with the most points, notching 11. Logan Couture has 10 points just like Pavelski. Also, Joel Ward has been proving his worth on both ends of the ice, adding six points to his already stellar physical play.

On the other end of the ice, Marc-Edouard Vlasic has been as solid as a rock on the blue line. He is playing top line minutes despite being injured heading into the playoffs. In the loss in the Sharks last game, Vlasic inexplicitly played his least amount of minutes. Giving Vlasic more minutes is a simple way to get their defense back on track.

Martin Jones entered the postseason with a lot of questions, but he has been in terrific form in the eight games he has played in. His 2.36 GAA and 91.4 SV% are solid numbers for a goalie who has been dependable. He made 37 saves from 39 shots in the second game of the Predator series. If he can play like that again and prove game three was a fluke, the Sharks have a good chance of getting the better of a tough opponent in Nashville.