Roman Josi had the puck with about nine seconds left in overtime and Bridgestone Arena rising. Alex Nedeljkovic lunged across and smothered it with his glove.
That save kept the San Jose Sharks alive long enough for a shootout, and Nedeljkovic finished the job there too, stopping Ryan O'Reilly, Filip Forsberg and Ross Colton after Macklin Celebrini had scored the only goal of the tiebreaker. The final was 3-2 for San Jose on Thursday night in Nashville.
Nedeljkovic stopped 32 of 34 shots for a .941 save percentage in 65:00, per the Hockey-Reference box. Juuse Saros answered with 30 saves on 32 at the other end. Nashville finished with a 34-32 edge in shots and 17,181 fans for a game that ran 2 hours, 44 minutes.
Holding after the lead vanished
San Jose led 2-0 early in the third. Mason Marchment scored at 5:30 of the first off Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg. Will Smith made it 2-0 at 4:28 of the third from Michael Kesselring and Igor Chernyshov.
O'Reilly then made it 2-1 on the power play at 9:05, finishing a Jonathan Marchessault rebound with Josi on the assist after Sam Dickinson's tripping minor at 8:03.
Steven Stamkos tied it with one second left from the top of the left circle, assisted by Forsberg, with Saros pulled for an extra attacker. NHL.com noted Stamkos became the first player in NHL history with two game-tying goals in the final second of regulation, matching a play he made at Minnesota on Nov. 4, 2025.
"I didn't see the initial shot from the left," Nedeljkovic said of Stamkos' goal, per NHL.com. "There was traffic. I think it actually hit me, and then the rebound kind of fluttered in the middle. With a 500-goal scorer in the NHL, the puck is always going to find his stick somehow."
Smith, who scored San Jose's second goal, put the win on the crease afterward. "He was unbelievable," Smith said. "He won that game for us. He was unbelievable all night. You always feel comfortable with him back there."