SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Ryan O'Reilly broke a tie midway through the third period and the Nashville Predators beat the San Jose Sharks 6-3 on Saturday night in a key game in the playoff race.
The Predators blew a 3-0 lead before O'Reilly converted off a pass from Luke Evangelista to give them their 15th straight win over the Sharks for their longest winning streak ever against one opponent.
Filip Forsberg scored twice in the first period for Nashville, Steven Stamkos had his 620th career goal and Erik Haula sealed it with a short-handed goal with 2:34 to play to make it 5-3. Tyson Jost added an empty-netter.
Juuse Saros made 24 saves.
The Predators moved into a tie with Los Angeles in the race for the second wild-card spot in the West with 81 points. San Jose is two points back but has a game in hand.
Macklin Celebrini scored his 41st goal of the season for San Jose. Nick Leddy and Alexander Wennberg also scored but the Sharks were unable to extend their winning streak to five games for the first time since November 2019.
Yaroslav Askarov made 29 saves.
The Predators jumped on top of the Sharks early for the second straight meeting this season. After getting off to a 5-1 lead in the first period of a 6-3 win last month at home, Nashville got two goals in a 1:16 span from Forsberg to take a 2-0 lead.
Stamkos scored a one-timer from the circle on the power play to make it 3-0 late in the first before the Sharks rallied with two late goals in the second and a game-tying goal by Alexander Wennberg early in the third.
Nashville defenseman Nicolas Hague left the game with an undisclosed injury in the first period and didn’t return.
Up next
Predators: At Los Angeles on Monday night.
Sharks: Host Chicago on Monday night.
