Nashville, TN (My Sportsbook) - The Nashville Predators will hope for their first win of the season tonight when they continue a three-game homestand against the San Jose Sharks at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

The Predators, off to their worst start in franchise history at 0-3-1-2, are coming off a 2-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday.

Andy Delmore registered the only tally for the Predators, who are 0-2 on their home ice this season and have lost all five of their games overall by a one- goal margin.

Several of Mike Dunham's 16 saves on the night were huge in keeping his team in the game, including a sliding goal mouth save midway through the third. However, the Nashville netminder still came away with the loss after letting in a questionable goal to Shane Doan.

Doan's shot from the left of the net was scooped up easily by a kneeling Dunham. The puck, however, fell out of Dunham's glove as he raised his arm and trickled slowly across the goal line to give Phoenix a 1-0 advantage.

The Predators outshot the Coyotes 31-18, including a 12-3 edge in the third period.

After their current three-game homestand ends against Detroit on Saturday, Nashville will leave for the longest road trip in franchise history in which they will play seven games in 14 days.

San Jose, off to a 1-4 start, will be getting some help soon as unsigned restricted free agent Evgeni Nabokov agreed to a two-year deal worth just over $7.1 million on Tuesday. Nabokov is expected to be in uniform tonight, but it has not been announced when he'll make his first start.

Goaltending has been a major problem for the Sharks in the early-going as Miikka Kiprusoff and Vesa Toskala posted a combined 4.77 goals against average.

Nabokov set a franchise record for wins last year, his second full season in the NHL, with a 37-24-5 record. He also posted a San Jose-record for shutouts in a season with seven while leading the Sharks to their first Pacific Division Championship.

In their most recent setback, a 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Monday, the Sharks were peppered for five goals during a 6:43 span in the second period for their second straight loss.

Teemu Selanne and Mike Ricci scored power-play goals for San Jose, which lost captain Owen Nolan in the third period to a groin injury. Nolan is expected to play tonight, as is center Patrick Marleau, who is also nursing a groin injury.

San Jose is unbeaten (3-0-1) in its last four at Nashville and owns a 5-1-1 mark in its last seven trips to the Predators' home rink.

The Sharks are 2-1-1 in the last four, 3-2-1 in the last six and 9-4-1 in the last 14 overall meetings.