Once described as a professional sourpuss Custom Arizona Coyotes Jerseys , Nashville Predators coach Peter Laviolette does have a well-hidden sense of humor.It came out minutes after Nashville polished off a 3-0 shutout Saturday night in Edmonton for a sweep of its weekend road trip through Alberta. When he emerged from the locker room for his post-game scrum with the media, Laviolette did so with a bull’s head over his cranium, paying off a bet he made with his players.“Good on him to hold up his end of the bet,” Predators defenseman P.K. Subban said. “For us as a team, it’s an 82-game season and it can be a long season. When you’re coming on the road with a back-to-back and a 5-1-0 record, it’s a little extra motivation and we’re having some fun, but good on him.”Article continues below ...While it’s pretty unlikely that Laviolette will appear behind the bench for Tuesday night’s home game with the San Jose Sharks with a bull’s head over his suit and tie, it’s clear that he knows how to get through to his talented team.Nashville (7-1-0) has picked up where it left off last season, when it won the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time in franchise history. The Predators have won five straight, outscoring their opponents 20-7. They presently have the best record and goal differential ( 12) in the NHL.The win in Edmonton was just another example of what makes Nashville so difficult to beat. Playing a back-to-back against a team with perhaps the best player in the league in Connor McDavid, the Predators put on a puck possession clinic for two periods and then hunkered down in the third period to protect a two-goal lead.“We knew before the game that they have lots of talent,” Nashville goalie Juuse Saros said. “We tried to be solid in the defensive zone. We were www.bruinsshoponline.com , and our penalty kill was great, too.”Playing in place of the injured Pekka Rinne (knee), Saros (4-0-0) stopped 31 shots for his fifth career shutout. With Rinne on injured reserve through Thursday night’s game in New Jersey, Saros will get the call for San Jose’s only visit of the season.The Sharks are off to a 4-3-1 start, dumping the New York Islanders 4-1 Saturday night as Brent Burns scored his first goal of the season while Tomas Hertl supplied three assists. San Jose dominated statistically, outshooting New York 41-25.“I liked how we played,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “I think we’ve played some pretty good hockey all year. We didn’t get rewarded on the road to start the season, but I knew it was a matter of time if we kept playing that way. We got home here, we started to score, we feel a little bit confident.”San Jose’s confidence will be tested in perhaps its biggest jinx building in the league. The Sharks have emerged from Bridgestone Arena with just one win in their last 12 attempts, dating back to 2012. Their only win in that span came on April 2, 2016 in a shootout. The thrill is back for Ryan O’Reilly.A trade to the St. Louis Blues has O’Reilly excited about hockey and the future after three consecutive losing seasons with the Buffalo Sabres had him talking about losing his love for the game. Now the 27-year-old center is itching to get back on the ice and help the Blues reach the playoffs Boston Bruins T-Shirts Womens , even if that adventure doesn’t begin in earnest for a couple of months.”I feel like I have a spark in me now,” O’Reilly said Monday on a conference call. ”There’s something different. It’s interesting how it happened, but I’m happy, I’m excited and I don’t regret anything that’s happened.”O’Reilly said on Buffalo’s locker cleanout day that the Sabres had adopted a mentality of ”being OK with losing” and he believed it crept into their game. He stood by those comments Monday, thanked Buffalo and expressed happiness at moving on to start what he hopes will be a winning chapter of his life.When the Avalanche traded O’Reilly to the Sabres at the 2015 draft and he signed a $52.5 million, seven-year contract, the expectation was to be the central figure. With St. Louis, he joins an already-established core of Brayden Schenn, Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko, Colton Parayko and captain Alex Pietrangelo.”My first year in Buffalo, I was really trying to feel things out Boston Bruins Hoodies Womens , and being kind of young at that time, getting that contract, I don’t think I kind of got a hold of the situation as best I could have,” O’Reilly said. ”I don’t think I was ready for that situation as best as possible. But I think going to St. Louis with all the kinds of things in play, the veterans that they have there, that it’s something that’s easier to kind of jump into.”O’Reilly joins a Blues team that missed the playoffs by one victory and already bulked up in free agency by signing center Tyler Bozak, winger David Perron and backup goaltender Chad Johnson. St. Louis acquired O’Reilly from Buffalo for young forward Tage Thompson, a top-10 protected 2019 first-round pick, a 2021 second-round pick and forwards Vladimir Sobotka and Patrik Berglund.St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong hopes a change of scenery benefits O’Reilly, who put up between 55 and 65 points in each of the past four seasons.”He’s got great passion for the sport,” Armstrong said. ”He’s got great passion to compete and to win and hopefully this gives him the boost that he feels is necessary that he can come in here and quite honestly we need that boost.”O’Reilly hopes his rapport with coach Mike Yeo, Schenn Boston Bruins Hats Womens , Schwartz, Parayko and defenseman Joel Edmundson from playing together with Canada at the world championships eases his transition. With the spring tournament filling the void of the postseason, he’s eager to take part in the Stanley Cup playoffs for just the third time.”There’s nothing like playoff hockey,” O’Reilly said. ”It’s what we all kind of dream of doing. Unfortunately, my career, I haven’t done it enough. And I plan to come in and help this team get there, help this team win.”—AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow contributed to this report.—