Nashville Predators

Nashville, Tenn. - Nashville Predators Executive Vice President/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has signed defenseman Marek Zidlicky (MAIR-ehk zhihd-LIHTS-kee) to a four-year contract.

Zidlicky, 29 (2/3/77), has notched 102 points (26g-76a) in 149 games with Nashville over the past two NHL seasons. This past year, the 5-11, 190-pound native of Most, Czech Republic ranked second among team defensemen and 14th among NHL defensemen with 49 points (12g-37a), including a career-high 10 power-play goals. He also tied for third on the club in assists and ranked third in average time on ice per game (20:03). In 2003-04, Zidlicky established a Nashville franchise record for points by a defenseman (14g-39a-53pts).

At the 2005 World Championships, Zidlicky captured a gold medal as a member of the Czech Republic national team and was selected to the tournament All-Star Team. He led tournament defensemen in goals (four) and earned a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games and represented the Czechs at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

Zidlicky was acquired by Nashville from the New York Rangers (with Rem Murray and Tomas Kloucek) for Mike Dunham on December 12, 2002. He was originally drafted with the Rangers’ sixth choice (sixth round), 176th overall, in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

The Nashville Predators have learned just how valuable goaltender Tomas Vokoun is to the franchise.

With Vokoun, the Predators came out of the NHL lockout taking full advantage of the new labour deal their owner helped negotiate and turned in their best season in their seventh year of competition with 106 points and a 32-8-1 home record that was the league’s best.

But Vokoun didn’t play after April 1 because of a rare blood condition. Even though the Predators tried to be optimistic, their second playoff run ended Sunday night in five games with a 2-1 loss to San Jose.

“We didn’t have our stopper in there unfortunately, but that’s the way it goes,” coach Barry Trotz said.

So forget the eight-game winning streak to open the season, the six victories in shootouts and a franchise-best 49 victories. The slew of records, Paul Kariya’s scoring punch as the big free agent signee and that No. 4 seed in the Western Conference couldn’t help when it mattered most.

Not only did the Predators not have Vokoun, two other key players also were hampered by injuries.

Steve Sullivan, their second-highest scorer, missed the final nine games with a strained groin that limited him to two points in the playoffs. Marek Zidlicky had scored 49 points as a defenceman, but missed the final 11 games after separating his shoulder.

They came back but were never close to their best at a physical, fast team like the Sharks. San Jose coach Ron Wilson said he was glad to clinch the series before Sullivan and Zidlicky and others could heal up.

“They were red-faced at the pace we were trying to play the game at,” Wilson said.

Trotz said they can’t worry about what they didn’t have.

“The moons didn’t line up that way … That’s neither here nor there,” Trotz said.

With no Vokoun in net to cover mistakes, penalties wound up killing the Predators.

Only Washington had more penalties (550) than Nashville’s 533. Nashville tied for fifth in the NHL in killing penalties in the regular season but gave up 10 power-play goals to San Jose, including three when down 3-on-5.

“All series long we were in the box, can’t score from there,” Predators forward Paul Kariya said.

The Predators talked about being more disciplined during the series with the Sharks. But they couldn’t stop themselves even with officials watching closely.

“We are a little bit of an edgy team in terms of causing a little anger with guys like (Darcy) Hordichuk, (Scot) Nichol and (Jordin) Tootoo and people like that …,” Trotz said.

“Our penalties in terms of self-discipline at times this year was a problem, and it came back to haunt us a little bit in the playoffs. We took too many penalties against a very good team.”

The Predators still have a very young team, and rookie defenceman Shea Weber played well against the Sharks. But they do have some decisions to make on some key players who become free agents on July 1.

Nashville likely will want to keep Zidlicky and defencemen Mark Eaton, Danny Markov and Brendan Witt, especially after trading a first-round pick to Washington for Witt in March to add size and experience. General manager David Poile also must decide on forwards Greg Johnson, Yanic Perreault and Mike Sillinger - another trade pickup.

The biggest question hanging over the Predators remains Vokoun’s health.

Doctors said weeks of blood thinners should resolve the clots in his abdomen that had threatened his life, allowing him to return to hockey in the fall. But this is a condition they called so rare that they hadn’t seen it before.

Trotz is treating this season as part of the growing process, something he’s overseen as this franchise’s only coach. He is using Detroit’s failures before winning Stanley Cups as an example.

But coming up a game shorter than the last playoff when they at least took the Red Wings to a Game 6 before bowing out was a sharp disappointment.

“A lot of positives this year, but this is no longer acceptable,” Sullivan said.

GAME: San Jose Sharks at Nashville Predators.

PLAYOFF SERIES: Western Conference quarterfinals; Sharks lead 3-1.

TIME: Sunday, 8:30 p.m. EDT.

The San Jose Sharks hope to follow Patrick Marleau right into the Western Conference semifinals.

San Jose tries to close out its quarterfinal series with a fourth straight win over the Nashville Predators when the teams play Game 5 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Nashville won Game 1 of the series, but the Sharks have rebounded to win three in a row behind Marleau.

The 26-year-old center had a hat trick, including the go-ahead goal, to lead San Jose to a 5-4 victory on Thursday. The Sharks’ captain has six goals and one assist in the last three games, accounting for 50 percent of the team’s scoring.

Marleau, who had a career-best 86 points during the regular season, is San Jose’s franchise leader in postseason goals and notched his third career playoff hat trick Thursday.

“He’s our captain, and it just goes to show that he’s been doing it and we’ve been following him all season long,” said Mark Smith, who scored his third goal of the series Thursday. “The bigger the game, the bigger he is as a player.”

San Jose needed to hold off a late Nashville charge after Mike Sillinger and Scott Hartnell scored to pull the Predators within a goal in the third period.

Sharks goaltender Vesa Toskala made 26 saves, however, and held on as Nashville outshot San Jose 14-3 in the final 20 minutes. Rookie Pat Rissmiller also scored for San Jose while Joe Thornton, Steve Bernier and Matt Carle each added two assists.

San Jose has won all four playoff series in which it’s held a 3-1 lead, but coach Ron Wilson said recording that last victory won’t be easy.

“You get to this point and you want to get the series over as quickly as possible in order to save energy,” said Wilson, who gave his team Friday off. “We all understand that the hardest win is the fourth win. We’re going to have our work cut out for us.”

The Predators certainly have their work ahead of them as they try to win their first playoff series, but Thursday’s third-period performance has them motivated.

“I thought that we played regular season hockey to that point,” said Predators goalie Chris Mason, who made 19 saves in the defeat. “They’ve been playing playoff hockey, and we said, `You know what? We’ve got nothing to lose.”‘

Paul Kariya added a goal and an assist and Shea Weber also scored for Nashville, which scored just one goal in Games 2 and 3.

The Predators scored their first three even-strength goals of the series Thursday, but continued to give San Jose odd-man chances. The Sharks have had six 5-on-3s in the first four games, and took advantage by scoring two power-play goals in Game 4.

Defenseman Marek Zidlicky returned to the Nashville lineup Thursday after missing 15 games with a separated shoulder.

Game 6, if necessary, will be in San Jose on Tuesday.

HOW THEY GOT HERE: Sharks - 99 points; 5th seed. Predators - 106 points; 4th seed.

PLAYOFF TEAM LEADERS: Sharks - Marleau, 6 goals and 7 points; Christian Ehrhoff and Tom Preissing, 5 assists; Ville Nieminen, 20 PIM. Predators - Sillinger and Weber, 2 goals; Kariya, 5 assists and 6 points; Sillinger, 12 PIM.

PLAYOFF SPECIAL TEAMS: Sharks - Power play: 21.9 percent (7 for 32). Penalty killing: 81.5 percent (22 for 27). Predators - Power play: 18.5 percent (5 for 27). Penalty killing: 78.1 percent (25 for 32).

GOALTENDERS: Sharks - Toskala (3-1, 1 SO, 2.27 GAA); Evgeni Nabokov (no appearances). Predators - Mason (1-3, 3.80); Pekka Rinne (no appearances).