Sharks 5, Predators 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Joe Pavelski scored two goals and the San Jose Sharks moved within one win from advancing with a 5-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.
San Jose will take a 3-2 lead into their best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series on Monday in Nashville, where the Sharks will have an opportunity to move on to the Western Conference finals with a win.
Game 7, if necessary, is scheduled for Thursday back at SAP Center, which was at it loudest of the season on Saturday.
Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau and Melker Karlsson also scored. Goalie Martin Jones stopped 24 of 25 shots by the Predators.
San Jose broke it open with a second period that might have been their best 20 minutes of the playoffs.
The Sharks scored 35 seconds into the period by taking advantage of a bad line change by Nashville. Couture scored his fourth goal of the series when he broke in alone on Pekka Rinne and beat the Nashville goalie between the pads with a move to his backhand.
San Jose played a long stretch of suffocating defense as the Predators managed only two shots during the first 10:31. Nashville went on the first power play of the night just past the midway point, and after tossing two early shots on goal didn't come close to converting.
Then, late in the period, Pavelski scored his second of the game as it took the Sharks only nine seconds to convert their first power play -- a trip by Nashville's Roman Josi of Couture at 19:13.
Pavelski one-timed a Patrick Marleau pass from behind the net past Rinne with 37.2 seconds remaining for a three-goal lead.
The Sharks led 2-1 after a fast-paced, penalty-free first period.
San Jose broke the ice at 10:47 when Marleau scored his third goal of the playoffs. Joonas Donskoi was on the boards to support Couture's forecheck that forced a turnover.
Donskoi stick-handled behind the net and surprised Rinne with a pass back to Marleau, who squeezed a wrist shot inside the near post.
Nashville struck back at 15:40 as it was the red-hot Mike Fisher scoring his fourth goal in three games.
Sharks defenseman Justin Braun lost coverage of the Predators veteran, who scored on the doorstep after teammate James Neal partially fanned on a shot.
But Pavelski came back 1:41 later with his first goal of the game. Joe Thornton managed a quick backhand pass -- just before getting checked by Craig Smith -- that found Pavelski at the edge of the right circle. His one-timer beat Rinne at 17:21.
NOTES: San Jose made its first lineup change in 10 postseason games this spring when F Dainius Zubrus replaced RW Tommy Wingels on the fourth line for Game 5. Zubrus, 37, who last appeared in a playoff game in 2012 with New Jersey, brought 92 games of Stanley Cup Playoffs experience into his 2016 postseason debut on Saturday. ... Nashville made one change, too, as veteran C Mike Ribeiro returned after getting scratched for Games 3 and 4 in Nashville. He replaced rookie F Pontus Aberg, 22, who after making his NHL debut in Game 3 appeared for only 4:59 during Thursday's triple-OT Game 4. ... The Sharks are 4-9 all-time when a playoff series is tied 2-2 while Nashville is 1-3. ... C Micheal Haley, D Dylan DeMelo and D Matt Tennyson joined Wingels as San Jose's healthy scratches. ... C Cody Bass, D Petter Granberg, LW Eric Nystrom, LW Austin Watson and RW Gabriel Bourque joined Aberg for Nashville in the press box.