Nashville, Tenn. – The San Jose Sharks lost top scorer Jonathan Cheechoo, maybe for the postseason. Then they blew a two-goal lead and watched the Nashville Predators dominate the final 48 minutes.
Somehow, the Sharks managed to win their playoff opener.
Patrick Rissmiller scored at 8:14 of the second overtime, and the Sharks beat the Nashville Predators 5-4 on Wednesday night in the opening game of the Western Conference first-round series.
“We bent a little bit, but we didn’t break,” San Jose coach Ron Wilson said.
Rissmiller, who scored only seven goals in the regular season, beat Tomas Vokoun with a shot from the edge of the left circle after taking a crisp pass from Patrick Marleau.
“I just saw Patty with it, and I knew that if I was going to the net he would either shoot it or pass to me,” Rissmiller said. “It was a good pass, and when you have speed going at their D, it’s tough to defend.”
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night at Nashville.
San Jose squandered a 4-2 lead after two, an advantage built with three goals in the middle frame after the Sharks lost Cheechoo, their top goal-scorer to an injured right knee nine minutes into the period.
Wilson said he wasn’t sure of the extent of the injury. Cheechoo will have an MRI.
“It could be serious,” Wilson said. “It was like a two-part attack. It was an elbow to the mouth that knocked a tooth out and the knee-on-knee contact, which you’ve got two of the worst things that we have in hockey. … If that’s not trying to hurt somebody, I don’t know what is.”
Nashville coach Barry Trotz said he studied a replay and didn’t see Scott Hartnell stick a knee out.
“It’s unfortunate when anybody gets hurt in the game. But looking at it, I thought it was a pretty clean hit. I mean they did collide knee on knee. But there was no sticking out of the knee,” Trotz said.
The Predators, who stood atop the NHL until March 29 before slipping to the West’s No. 4 seed, scored twice in the final 6:55 of regulation to force the first overtime in the franchise’s short postseason history.
Alexander Radulov scored his second goal with 7:05 left, and J.P. Dumont scored his second of the game with 50.4 seconds remaining in regulation, tipping a slap shot from Shea Weber past Evgeni Nabokov’s glove.
Weber had two assists for a team that went 4-15-1 in the regular season when trailing after two.
“We let a very good team back in that game and gave them hope,” said San Jose defenseman Craig Rivet, who scored on a 5-on-3 power play and had an assist. “We were the lucky ones to come out with the victory.”
Joe Thornton, the NHL’s second-leading scorer with 114 points, and Marleau each had two assists for San Jose. Former University of Denver defenseman Matt Carle scored a goal.
