Predators vs. Sharks: Game 7 Preview, Prediction for NHL Playoff Series Finale

Most projections for the Pacific Division saw a close second-round series between two worthy adversaries, likely the ceaselessly competitive Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks—a legitimate contender after overcoming a tough start to the year.

Instead, as we prepare for yet another second-round Game 7, we find a different Pacific playoff entrant fighting for the conference title.

The San Jose Sharks will host, hoping to move on to the Western final for the third time in the salary-cap era. Often criticized as playoff failures, the Sharks have in fact won nine playoff series since the 2004-05 lockout; that’s only one series less than the Kings.

The trouble is San Jose has spread those wins out, winning a round or two most years before bowing out. With a new head coach in Peter DeBoer and a retooled roster, the hope for the Sharks is that this year will be different.

The Nashville Predators plan to make that impossible. Twice in two tries, the Predators have fallen to San Jose in the postseason; never has the franchise gotten as far as the conference final. Thursday's Game 7 offers a chance for the team to reverse both trends.

Nashville Predators Storylines

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Colin Wilson, Leading Scorer

The Predators have some pretty good offensive players, many of them added to the roster recently. Filip Forsberg, James Neal and Mike Ribeiro were key players for Nashville entering the season, while centre Ryan Johansen was added in a blockbuster trade in January.

All of them have taken a backseat to Colin Wilson in the playoffs.

Wilson’s 13 points in the postseason are five more than any other forward on the team and just one less than Forsberg, Neal and Ribeiro combined. With five goals, he’s just one shy of his regular-season total, the 26-year-old more than making up for middling work during the year.

Wilson isn’t just scoring, either; he’s also driving puck possession. The Predators have a 56 percent Fenwick rating when he is on the ice, the best of any skater on the team. When he’s out there at five-on-five, Nashville averages 10 shots/missed shots more than the opposition in an average hour of play.

Wilson’s strong work continues a trend from last season's playoffs—when he tallied five goals in just six games for the Predators—but is at odds with his work in three prior playoff years. Before 2014-15, he had managed just two points in 13 career postseason contests.

Redemption for Rinne?

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For the most part, Nashville is a cost-conscious team. Only two players average more than $5 million per season: franchise defenceman Shea Weber and goaltender Pekka Rinne.

Rinne, though, has struggled with injuries and subpar play over the last few seasons A back-to-back Vezina finalist in 2010-11 and 2011-12, in three of the last four seasons he has posted a save percentage of .910 or less. Last year, he seemed to find his game, posting a .923 save percentage over 64 games, but he struggled again this term, coming in at an ugly .908 number, well below average for an NHL starter.

He has been up and down in the playoffs. In the first round, he was excellent in every Nashville win but allowed the Ducks back into the series with a three-game run in which he surrendered 11 goals on just 77 shots (.857 save percentage). He struggled in both Game 5 and Game 6 against the Sharks, with the Predators winning despite him rather than because of him on Monday.

He was great in his last Game 7, though, stopping 36 of 37 shots faced as the Preds knocked off Anaheim. The team could use that kind of performance from him again.   

San Jose Sharks Storylines

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Brent Burns’ Breakout Season

There is a case to be made that Marc-Edouard Vlasic is as important a part of the Sharks blue line as Brent Burns, but there’s no question the offensive rearguard has opened eyes with his regular-season performance and his work in the playoffs.

Burns enters Game 7 tied with Jamie Benn of the recently eliminated Dallas Stars for the lead in playoff scoring at 15 points, one more than teammate Logan Couture and two more than any Predator. This comes on the heels of a 27-goal, 75-point regular season that earned Burns his first Norris Trophy nomination from the league.

Burns is averaging more than 26 minutes per game for San Jose in the playoffs and is a leading contender for the Conn Smythe Trophy through two rounds.

Winning for the Core

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The heart of the San Jose roster features many names long associated with the team. Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski and Vlasic are the obvious candidates, but even the 27-year-old Couture is in his seventh season with the club.

Paul Martin, a newcomer to San Jose but a veteran in his own right, told Yahoo’s Josh Cooper there’s a desire to win for those players who have been a part of so many good but not great teams:

"

I think for them a lot of guys who want to win for (Thornton) or (Pavelski) or (Marleau), they’ve been here so long and been so close. But at the same time they’ve been successful, they’ve been right there. It would be different if it’s a team that doesn’t make the playoffs or come close, we wouldn’t be having that conversation. They’ve had some unfortunate losses in the playoffs and it would be something to have a big win for them.

"

The three players Martin named have had spectacular careers. All have been a part of championships; from junior to college to European play to international events, they have combined for nine titles. Not one, though, has succeeded in doing so at the NHL level, and a Game 7 win is vital to changing that.

Prediction: Sharks 2, Predators 0

Statistics courtesy of NHL.com, Hockey Reference and Corsica Hockey. Salary information via General Fanager.

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.