Roman Josi, Nashville Predators wallop hapless San Jose Sharks

There came a point Tuesday when the San Jose Sharks simply stopped playing, when they just wanted this game and this road trip to end.

That point appeared to take place late in the third period when the Sharks were already getting their doors blown off at Bridgestone Arena.

But the Nashville Predators never did stop playing, and they handed the Sharks another lopsided loss in this dismal and forgettable season.

The Sharks allowed three goals to end the second period and four more in the third and were routed 8-2 by the Predators as they ended a five-game road trip without gaining a single point.

The Sharks, after a failed power play, gave up goals to Jason Zucker, Michael McCarron, and Luke Evangelista in a span of 8:27 in the second period to fall behind 4-2. But the wheels totally fell off for the Sharks midway through the third period, starting with McCarron’s second goal at the 10:45 mark.

After that, Mark Jankowski, Filip Forsberg, and Tommy Novak all scored in a span of 2:03 as the Sharks finished the road trip, their longest remaining one this season, with a 0-5-0 record on which they were outscored 26-11.

“You can’t let it snowball. There’s still opportunities for us to go and get some goals back,” Sharks winger Luke Kunin said. “But yeah, pretty embarrassing that last bit of the game.”

The Sharks were a comedy of errors in the defensive zone, as a red-hot Predators team took advantage of their opponents’ plethora of poor puck decisions, bad positioning, and a lack of willingness to engage.

That made it a tough night for Sharks goalie Magnus Chrona, who allowed a career-worst eight goals on 40 shots, including four on 14 shots in the third.

“Brutal puck play, not paying attention mentally to where you should be. Just cashing in, really, the last 10 minutes,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “It was really disappointing.”

The Sharks were up 2-1 after Mario Ferraro scored his second goal of the season at the 5:46 mark of the second period, and had a chance to go up by two goals after Zucker was called for high-sticking.

But the Sharks didn’t get a single shot on goal on the power play, their lone one of the game, and saw the momentum shift to the Predators.

“It demoralized more than anything. It was bad,” Quinn said of the power play. “We know who we are. They get a power play, they don’t score, but they get momentum. We get a power play and we were lucky we didn’t give up a shorthanded goal.

“Really, that’s when things kind of turned.”

The Sharks (16-45-7) have now lost 14 of their last 15 games as they remain mired in 32nd and last place in the NHL’s overall standings.

The loss marked the ninth time this season the Sharks have lost by five or more goals.

“It’s definitely tough,” Kunin said. “You’ve got to find ways to get through it. You’ve got to learn from things and grow as a group. To have success in this league, I do think you have to go through some tough times and it’s for sure tough right now for the guys.

“Just got to get out, got to learn, and just got to keep getting better every day.”

Mikael Granlund also scored for the Sharks, who return to San Jose to start a three-game homestand Thursday against Anthony Duclair and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Granlund lamented the Sharks’ unwillingness to defend.

“We were spending too much time in the d-zone, we weren’t closing quick enough,” Granlund said. “That’s why it looks like that and it was pretty embarrassing.”