The Nashville Predators hope to find their offensive rhythm when they host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
The Predators have been limited to two goals or fewer in four of their first six games, most recently failing to get over that hump in a 5-2 loss against the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.
“We’re really having trouble sustaining puck battles and using close support and some of the things that we preach, and we try to do,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “We throw too many pucks away …. and for plays that really aren’t even high-end plays. We just throw them pucks. It’s a little perplexing, and something we talk about every day, something we need to be better at.”
Nashville also went 0-for-3 on the power play against Vegas, and the Golden Knights twice scored seconds after killing power plays in the first period to erase an early 1-0 deficit.
“It kind of lost momentum for our group and we can’t afford that,” Brunette said. “We’re playing small margins, and (if) we do the things we did (against the Golden Knights), it’s a recipe for what we got.”
One of the positive early stories for Nashville has been the play of center Adam Edstrom, who scored a short-handed goal against Vegas for his third tally in six games this season.
He scored three goals in 35 games with the New York Rangers last season.
“He’s been really good,” Brunette said. “He hounds pucks and gets on top of pucks with his size, reach and speed. He’s been creating stuff, and (Tuesday night) was a perfect example of what he brings.”
Edstrom said he’s just trying to keep things simple.
“Play a hard-nosed game, use my skating, and use my size,” he said. “It’s worked out well so far.”
Like the Predators, the Sharks lost their second straight game Tuesday.
Captain Macklin Celebrini had a goal and an assist for the Sharks, but it wasn’t nearly enough in a 6-3 defeat against the visiting Boston Bruins.
Still, San Jose coach Ryan Warsofsky was satisfied with the effort.
“I thought it was a step in the right direction,” Warsofsky said. “I think you create your own luck and you create your own puck luck, and I thought we did some things that we’ve talked about the last couple of days. We’ve improved in some areas and some positives, but yeah, some things we have to clean up.”
Ivar Stenberg, the second overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, scored his first goal but finished a minus-4 against the veteran Bruins, and fellow rookie Luca Cagnoni finished a minus-5.
“It’s obviously a tough league,” Warsofsky said. “They’re good players. They’re really good players. They’re going to figure it out. Some nights, you’re just going to fight it a little bit, and the game’s going to speed up, and that’s just the game within the game that they’re learning, and they’ll continue to get better.”
Warsofsky did not have an update on defenseman Darnell Nurse, who did not play the final 13:20 after fighting Boston defenseman Nikita Zadorov and then heading directly down the tunnel.