The San Jose Sharks posted the worst home-ice record of any team to make the playoffs. The Nashville Predators have never reached the conference final. Something has to give as these teams meet in Game 7 at the Shark Tank.
To defeat the Sharks in Game 7 at move on to face the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference final, the Predators will be required to do something they've never done in franchise history - win a playoff game at San Jose's SAP Center. The Predators are 0-7 in the Shark Tank during postseason play, but prior to their first round against the Anaheim Ducks, they'd never played a Game 7 before and they won that, so never say never. Visiting teams are 2-1 in Game 7 so far in this spring's playoffs and the team that scores first is 3-0.
While the Predators have never played in a conference final, the Sharks will be seeking to advance to that stage for the fourth time, but for the first time since 2011. The home team has won all six games in this series and the Sharks, who won just 18 of 41 regular-season games at the SAP Center, 26th overall in the NHL, are 4-0 there in the playoffs. Both coaches - Nashville's Peter Laviolette (5-1) and San Jose's Peter DeBoer (1-0) - are success stories in Game 7.
Laviolette moved Viktor Arvidsson up to the top line with Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen for Game 6 and Arvidsson responded by scoring the overtime winner for Nashville.
It was his first career Stanley Cup goal and second goal in 32 games. Colin Wilson, who scored the goal that sent the game to OT, is riding a franchise-record seven-game point streak (4-5-9) and his 5-8-13 numbers lead the team in playoff scoring. Wilson tallied 6-18-24 totals in 64 regular season games.
Sharks center Logan Couture has 5-3-8 totals in this series. San Jose's Brent Burns leads all defensemen in Stanley Cup scoring with 15 points. Sharks winger Matt Nieto (undisclosed injury) did not practice Wednesday. If he can't go, Tommy Wingels would draw in on the fourth line and Melker Karlsson would move up to Nieto's spot on the third line.
Pick: The Sharks (-179)
Category : News
More articles...What: 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup When: August 22 to September 27 Where: Eight cities in England How to watch: Paramount Plus Who's ready for the Rugby World Cup to get here? That's right, after a long wait, the summer event is coming later this month and people can't wait for it to get started. […]
What: 2025 U.S. Open When: Aug. 24 - Sept. 7 Where: Billy Jean King National Tennis Center on Queens, NY How to watch: ESPN It seems like not too much time passes without another fun, major tennis tournament arriving. That's right, people are still talking about how things went down at Wimbledon, but the focus […]
What: 2025 Open Championship Where: Royal Portrush Golf Club in Antrim, Northern Ireland When: July 17 to July 20 How to watch: CBS Here we go again, folks. Each and every summer, countless people can't wait for the British Open to arrive and this year is no different. Later this week, the top golfers in […]
Who: Daniel Dubois vs. Oleksandr Usyk Where: Wembley Stadium in London, England When: Saturday, July 19 at 3pm ET How to watch: DAZN Remember how exciting the matchup between Daniel Dubois and Oleksandr Usyk was back in 2023? It was a heavyweight showdown that people loved to witness and now another exciting showdown is on […]
