Blankenburg’s goal completes Predators’ comeback win over Sharks 7-5

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nick Blankenburg scored at 8:09 of the third to lead the Nashville Predators to a 7-5 comeback victory over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night.

Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and three assists, Tommy Novak scored and had two assists and Fedor Svechkov, Justin Barron, Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg had goals for the Predators, who have won four straight. Juuse Saros and Justus Annunen combined to make 19 saves.

Mikael Granlund scored twice, Macklin Celebrini had a goal and an assist and Jake Walman and Luke Kunin also scored for San Jose, which has lost four in a row. Alexandar Georgiev made 34 saves.

San Jose scored four goals on eight shots against Saros in the first period to take a 4-1 lead. Annunen, who replaced Saros to start the second, made 15 saves in relief.

Svechkov and Barron scored 53 seconds apart in the second to make it 4-2.

Marchessault’s goal at 28 seconds of the third cut the deficit to one. Josi’s power-play goal at 5:23 tied it.

Blankenburg completed the comeback by beating Georgiev from the right faceoff dot. Forsberg added an empty-netter.

Takeaways

Sharks: Have lost 11 straight against Nashville.

Predators: Rallied to defeat one of the few teams below them in the standings to win four straight for the first time this season.

Key moment

At 6:15 of the third, Nashville’s Luke Schenn was called for a puck over the glass penalty. The Predators challenged, which if video review did not overturn the call, they would have been down two players for two minutes. Officials determined the puck hit the glass before going out and the penalty was rescinded.

Key stat

The Sharks hadn’t scored more than twice against the Predators since Nov. 13, 2018, a span of 13 games.

Up next

The Sharks and Predators face each other in San Jose on Thursday night.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL