NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Once again, Nashville Predators captain Tom Fitzgerald led by example.

Fitzgerald scored his 100th NHL goal with his second short-handed goal in as many games as the Nashville Predators defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-2 on Saturday.

	Nashville's Greg Johnson skates away from a fallen Mike Ricci during the Predators' win over the visiting Sharks.

Fitzgerald put a backhander past Sharks goalie Steve Shields from the left side.

"That's what a captain's for," Nashville's Cliff Ronning said. "It's a guy who's not always the fanciest player, but he goes in straight lines and that's what Tom does."

Fitzgerald knows his role is often to do the little things to help his team win.

"I've played close to 700 games and I've only got 100 goals to show for it," he said. "I know I haven't been playing this long because I'm a goal scorer."

Before the scoring streak, Fitzgerald had not registered a point in 15 straight games.

"Tom's the first one to admit he was struggling and trying to do too much early in the season," Ronning said. "He's really come up with some big plays, not only scoring but coming up with big hits at the right times against their bigger players.

"That's just leadership."

Tomas Vokoun made 43 saves for his fourth victory in six days for Nashville, which won a team-record fourth straight game despite being outshot 45-20.

"We didn't capitalize on our chances, and they did," Sharks defenseman Bryan Marchment said. "We had a lot of shots, but they had a lot of quality chances as well."

San Jose was 0-for-6 on the power play.

"I thought our special teams were really good," Predators coach Barry Trotz said.

The Predators' record unbeaten streak grew to eight (5-0-3), during which they have outscored opponents 23-12.

"They haven't lost in two weeks," Sharks coach Darryl Sutter said. "What else is there to say?"

Vokoun had been 0-8-1 until this week, and lost to San Jose 5-1 on Oct. 15 even though the Predators held a 52-23 edge in shots.

"I wanted to get them back," Vokoun said.

Sergei Krivokrasov scored the fastest goal at the start of a game in Predators history 22 seconds into the first period, sending the rebound of Karlis Skatstins' shot by Steve Shields.

San Jose's Alexander Korolyuk evened the score at 10:21, putting a one-timer from the right circle past Vokoun. Kimmo Timonen put Nashville back up 2-1 at five minutes into the second period, lifting a rebound over the fallen Shields on the power play.

Fitzgerald's goal made it 3-1. After he scored, Shields was lifted for rookie Evgeni Nabokov, who made his NHL debut.

The Sharks were outshooting the Predators 35-16 when Shields was pulled.

San Jose's Patrick Marleau cut it to 3-2 with 5:52 left, bouncing a shot off Vokoun's skate. Todd Harvey, picked up in a three-team trade Thursday, made his Sharks debut and delivered two crunching checks in one shift.

"He's got a lot of energy," said Mike Ricci, Harvey's new linemate. "It's a great start for him. Hopefully, we can all build on that."