The Sharks and Predators will meet in a decisive Game 7 on Thursday at SAP Center (6 p.m., NBCSN) for the right to move on to the Western Conference Final. Here is a cheat sheet, if you will, headed into it…
- The home team has won each of the first six games of the second round series between the Sharks and Predators. San Jose has won four straight in the playoffs its own building, after winning just 18 of 41 at home in the regular season (18-20-3).
- The Sharks will be playing in their first Game 7 since the first round in 2014, when the Kings completed their historic comeback.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
- San Jose is 5-4 all-time in Game 7, including a 2-1 mark at home, with its only home loss coming to the Kings in 2014.
- Should the Sharks advance, a California team would be in the Western Conference Final for the 10th time in the last 12 seasons. The Sharks were there in 2004, 2010 and 2011, but have still never appeared in a Stanley Cup Final.
- The Sharks players with the most Game 7 experience are Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Joel Ward, with five games each. Ward has two goals, Thornton has two points (1g, 1a) and Marleau has one goal in those games.
- Sharks coach Pete DeBoer has won his only previous Game 7 in the first round in 2012 with New Jersey, a double-overtime win against Florida.
San Jose Sharks
- Nashville coach Peter Laviolette is 5-1 all-time in Game 7’s, including five straight wins. His teams are 13-6 when facing elimination, the second-highest winning percentage in NHL playoff history behind Al MacNeil (7-3).
- The Predators played in their first Game 7 as a franchise in the first round this season, defeating Anaheim, 2-1. In that game, 14 Predators played in the first Game 7 of their careers. Mike Ribeiro has played in four career Game 7’s, leading the Preds.
- There has been just one Game 7 overtime in Sharks history. On May 19, 1995 in the first round, San Jose won in double overtime in Calgary on a goal by Ray Whitney.
- There have been 40 Game 7 overtimes in NHL history, with the home and road teams going an even 20-20.
- Home teams are 95-68 (.583) all-time in Game 7’s in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, headed into Wednesday’s Stars-Blues decider in Dallas.
- The team that scores first is 121-42 all-time (.742), including a 2-0 mark this season.