Sharks takeaways: What we learned in San Jose's shootout win at home

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SAN JOSE – Things didn’t work out too well for the Sharks the last time they faced off against the Predators. This time around, they came to fight.

San Jose put up quite the effort against the tough Central Division club to take a very exciting 1-1 game into overtime.  In the end, it was Timo Meier with the lone marker in the shootout to give the Sharks a 2-1 victory – their third win in a row.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday night's game.

A goalie battle. Who knew.

With both Martin Jones and Juuse Saros going into Saturday’s game with goals-against averages worse than .900, it’s pretty impressive there wasn’t a scoring frenzy. Instead, both netminders put on quite a show – yes, even the home team’s starter.

Compared to some of the games San Jose has played recently, Jones played pretty darn well Saturday night. He was particularly impressive during the Sharks' third-period penalty kill when he stopped two Nashville chances that could have easily broken the tie. After a couple of games where he’s given up the game-winning goal late in the third and erased the positive work San Jose’s offense has done, Jones put up a solid, winning performance on Saturday. 

Setting the pace

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San Jose knew they had a tough test ahead of them with the Predators coming to town. The Nashville squad is both a tough team to beat AND was sure to be extra angry coming off of a 9-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. But instead of allowing the Preds to set the tone of the game early on, San Jose gradually built up the pace on their own terms, 

This was a significant improvement over how the Sharks played in Thursday's game against the Wild when they dominated the first period and then lost control over the next 40 minutes. San Jose’s energy built up with every minute of the third period and made for a very entertaining period of overtime. 

Sticking with it

In past games, the Sharks have sat back when the opposition has scored the first goal. So when they couldn't convert on a power-play opportunity less than a minute after Filip Forsberg scored the opening goal on the evening, it looked as though San Jose might have lost their mojo for the rest of the night.

But the Sharks regained their momentum and continued chipping away at Saros, who was standing on his head as San Jose's skaters crowded him. That relentless push finally paid off when Tomas Hertl found the back of the net in the third frame.

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