Predators shift focus to league-worst Sharks amid forgettable season

A three-game winning streak is too little, too late for the Nashville Predators, who will try to remain on a roll when they kick off a three-game California road trip against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.

The Predators -- 15 points outside of a playoff spot with 19 games remaining in what has been a dismal season for a team with preseason Stanley Cup hopes -- arrive in San Jose after a 3-2 overtime victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.

While the Preds are not mathematically eliminated from punching a ticket to the postseason, they know it will take many miracles to get in.

Thus, the attitude is to play hard and see what transpires.

"We all want to feel good about ourselves, whether that's first and foremost collecting wins and gearing toward something," forward Steven Stamkos said after scoring all three of his team's goals in the win over Chicago. "It's been a tough year. ... It's not a position you want to be in. Certainly not one that we expected to be in, so you can use that as motivation too."

The most recent victory is one of the few high points for Nashville this season. Stamkos netted his 14th career hat trick while passing Mike Bossy for 23rd on the league's all-time scoring list with 576 goals. He now sits one back of Hall of Fame winger Mark Recchi.

"It's nice to see him get rewarded," coach Andrew Brunette said. "There hasn't been a whole lot of things that made us feel really good through the course of the season. To see a guy get a hat trick and pass Mike Bossy at home (in an) overtime win, those are moments in the game that you always remember."

The Sharks, who sit at the bottom of the league standings and furthered their rebuild with more selling at the trade deadline, return to action after a disappointing 4-2 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday.

Despite seeing a litany of key players depart over a recent stretch, the Sharks played a gritty game in their first outing of an eight-game homestand. San Jose outshot the Islanders 20-8 in the first period but fell behind 2-0 in the opening frame and never evened the score.

"You don't score in the first with that type of volume of chances and shots, you usually feel like it's going to come the other way," Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "I got to give our guys a lot of credit for what they've gone through these last couple days."

San Jose, which has only two victories in its last 12 outings (2-7-3), dealt away defenseman Jake Walman, forwards Fabian Zetterlund, Luke Kunin, and Nico Sturm, and goaltender Vitek Vanecek leading up to the deadline.

On the plus side, the future stars in teal continue to improve. Macklin Celebrini, a frontrunner for the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie, is on a three-game point streak and has reached the 20-goal mark, while fellow freshman Will Smith has netted 17 points in his last 17 games.

Those young players will benefit from the reminder of the importance of a strong finish to the season.

"On an individual basis, guys have things to prove," veteran forward Barclay Goodrow said. "As a team, we believe we are a better team than what our record may indicate. We have a lot of pride in this room that we won't just pack it in and roll over. Finish strong, it's all we can really do."

--Field Level Media