San Jose Sharks

The Sharks have started with consecutive victories on the six-game road trip that takes them right into the Olympic break.

And while that's nothing new for San Jose, the team doesn't take its success on foreign ice for granted and realizes it's a big reason for the fact the Sharks are in contention for a second straight Presidents' Trophy.

San Jose extended its road winning streak to eight games with a 4-3 win at Nashville on Saturday night. Combined with Thursday's trip-opening triumph in St. Louis, the Sharks have outscored opponents in their last eight road games 29-14.

San Jose will try to match a run of nine straight victories on the road, last achieved Feb. 21-March 18, 2008, on Monday night in Toronto. The Sharks set a franchise record with 10 straight road wins earlier that season, which fell two shy of the NHL mark.

"You want to get those wins early because as a road trip goes on, you can get a little bit weary," Patrick Marleau said. "I think everybody is excited. We have a good chance to buckle down and kind of just let it all out."

SHARKS 4, PREDATORS 3: Dany Heatley's second power-play goal of the game snapped a 3-3 tie midway through the third period and provided San Jose with its margin of victory to enable the Sharks to win their eighth straight game on the road.

Assists on Heatley's game-winner went to top-line members Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, who all logged more than 23 minutes of ice time on Saturday night. Thornton and Marleau chipped in two assists apiece, and Heatley had one.

Rob Blake scored in the final seconds of the middle period to tie the game after Brad Staubitz found the back of the net for the first time since Nov. 1 early in the first period. Evgeni Nabokov made 35 saves in goal.

—D Niclas Wallin was acquired from Carolina along with a fifth-round draft pick for a second-rounder. Wallin, 34, has been with the Hurricanes for nine seasons and is a veteran of two of their playoff runs, including the one that netted them the Stanley Cup in 2006. The Sharks have been looking for an experienced defenseman for weeks.

• C Manny Malhotra got injured late during Thursday's road-opener at St. Louis on what he termed a freak play. The lower-body injury, which left him doubled over as he skated off with approximately six minutes remaining in the game, wasn't the result of a hit. "I Bambi'd at the line, kind of," Malhotra told the San Jose Mercury News, indicating the blade of his skate must have caught a rut in the ice. "It was just an awkward fall."

• San Jose has won eight straight on the road and outscored opponents 29-14 in the process.

• D Dan Boyle was honored on Friday night at his alma mater, Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio. A private plane whisked him off from Nashville to the campus about 35 miles north of Cincinnati, where he was introduced to the crowd at the Miami-Lake Superior State game. However, because of adverse weather in the region, Boyle left after the first two periods to drive four hours to a larger airport that could accommodate a return flight to Nashville.

Quote Of Note:

"I thought we settled down a little bit in the third period, and we were good enough at that point to win. The way it was going, you didn't know if a one-goal lead was going to be enough."—Coach Todd McLellan.

Goaltenders:

Evgeni Nabokov, Thomas Greiss.

Defensemen:

Dan Boyle, Rob Blake, Douglas Murray, Kent Huskins, Jay Leach, Jason Demers, Derek Joslin.

First Line:

Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley.

Second Line:

Ryane Clowe, Joe Pavelski, Devin Setoguchi

Third Line:

Torrey Mitchell, Scott Nichol, Jed Ortmeyer.

Fourth Line:

Jody Shelley, Brad Staubitz.

Player Notes:

• LW Dany Heatley scored two power-play goals in Nashville to extend his scoring streak to six straight games.

• D Kent Huskins provided a primary assist while appearing in his 200th career game.

• LW Brad Staubitz's first-period goal to tie the game was his first goal since Nov. 1.

• D Dan Boyle returned against Nashville after missing six straight games because of an upper-body injury. Boyle logged 19:10 of ice time and was a minus-1 with two shots and two blocks.

• C Joe Pavelski enjoyed a successful night in the faceoff circle, winning 15 of 21 draws against the Predators.

Medical Watch:

• D Marc-Edouard Vlasic sustained a lower-body injury on Jan. 27, missed his fourth straight game on Saturday, and did not accompany the team at the outset of the six-game trip.

• C Manny Malhotra missed Saturday night's game in Nashville after incurring a lower-body injury late in the road opener two nights earlier in St. Louis. The injury is being termed day-to-day.