NHL: San Jose 2, Nashville 1 (SO)

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 16 (UPI) -- Ryane Clowe scored in the third round of the shootout Thursday to bring the San Jose Sharks a 2-1 decision over Nashville.

The Sharks further tightened the Western Conference playoff race with their 80 points putting them into a tie for ninth place with Calgary. San Jose and Calgary are one point behind Phoenix and Colorado, who are tied for seventh place.

Patric Hornqvist gave Nashville the lead with 6:48 to go in the opening period and that was all the scoring until Joe Thornton delivered a power-play goal 55 seconds into the third.

Not only did Antti Niemi shut down the Predators after the first period, he turned aside all three of Nashville's attempts in the shootout. David Legwand had the third and final miss. Niemi made 32 saves overall.

Pekka Rinne stopped 34-of-35 shots to take the loss.