November 27, 2002

Early in his first season with the Predators, Andreas Johansson made quite an impression on the Nashville faithful by notching the fourth hat trick in team history, and lone three-goal performance of the 2002-03 season, in a 4-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks at the Sommet Center.

''I just told myself to keep being aggressive around the net,'' Johansson said following the performance.
''I'm not going to lie to you, because every time you get the second goal early in the game, you think about the hat trick. But the game was so tight and you can't press it.”

The Predators dominated the shots-on-goal department, outshooting San Jose 45-24 for the game and 21-6 in the final period. Johansson scored once in each period, with two of the three coming in the final 75 seconds of a period. Scott Walker set-up Johansson’s first two markers, and collected a third helper on Nashville’s only other goal – an Andy Delmore power play tally.

The Predators, who had struggled out to a 2-10-4-4 record, used the performance as a rallying point, winning four of their next six games.