SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks built a three-goal lead thanks to forwards Joonas Donskoi, Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels and defeated the Nashville Predators 4-1 at SAP Center on Saturday night.

Goaltender Martin Jones made 27 saves for the Sharks (6-3-0), who improved to 4-0-0 at home this season and won their third straight game overall.

Right wing James Neal scored his first goal of the season for Nashville (2-5-1). Goaltender Pekka Rinne made 23 saves.

The Sharks went 18-20-3 at home last year, but are off to a fast start at SAP Center. They won all three games on their homestand, which ended Saturday.

"We've played pretty patient games," Pavelski said. "There's been a lot of commitment. Tonight you saw there were a lot of guys blocking shots. [Jones has] been really good. He's made a lot of big saves along the way.

"And then just the team defense has been good. All those things add up and they give us a little time to get our legs going, get on the forecheck, get that first goal. It all adds up here after a good week."

The Sharks and Predators faced each other for the first time since the Stanley Cup playoffs last season when San Jose won their second-round series in seven games. The Sharks won Game 7 at SAP Center 5-0 and nearly duplicated that score against a Nashville team that is off to a slow start.

"Each game's a little different in the regular season," Pavelski said. "They've been traveling, not off to the best start. So, you try not to worry about what teams are doing, especially early right now and where we're at. It's important we take care of our own game and worry about that."

Joe Thornton had an empty-net goal, his first goal of the season, with 1:20 left to play for the Sharks.

San Jose struck first, taking a 1-0 lead on Donskoi's second goal of the season at 15:28 of the opening period. Center Logan Couture and defenseman Paul Martin had the assists.

Rinne stopped Couture's shot from close range, but Donskoi jammed the rebound past him.

"We just feel like we're just not playing up to our potential right now, individually, as a group," Predators captain Mike Fisher said. "We know we're a better team. When you're not getting the results it's frustrating. We've gone through this before. It's how you come out of it, how you learn, how you become a team. We're going to do that."

Sharks fourth-line center Chris Tierney squandered a great chance to extend San Jose's lead with 1:50 left in the first. But with most of the net open, Tierney hit the left post with a shot from the slot.

The Sharks scored two goals in a span of 17 seconds in the second period, extending their lead to 3-0.

Pavelski scored an unassisted power play goal at 2:47, his fourth goal overall of the season. Sharks defenseman Brent Burns hammered a slap shot wide left of the net, and the puck hit the back boards and bounced to Pavelski, right of the crease.

Pavelski quickly banked a shot off Rinne. As the puck trickled toward the goal line, Rinne, trying to recover, knocked it over with his skate.

Wingels scored at 3:04 of the second. Rinne stopped Micheal Haley's shot, but a wide-open Wingels put the rebound past Rinne with a backhand shot from the slot.

"Our line's had some good chances in the past few games, tonight as well," Wingels said. "Certainly nice to get one there. Just keep building on it. We feel good about it. We feel good as a line. We like playing with each other and we just have to keep building on it."

Nashville cut San Jose's lead to 3-1 with 42 seconds left in the second period when Neal tipped defenseman Ryan Ellis' point shot past Jones for his first goal of the season.

"We need to be ready right off the start, find the first goal and get rolling from there," Neal said. "We have a good group of guys in here. We'll figure it out and get going here."

NOTES: Sharks fourth-line LW Matt Nieto was a healthy scratch for the third straight game as LW Micheal Haley remained in the lineup. ... Nashville D Matt Irwin, a former Shark, faced his ex-team for the first time and played his second game as a Predator. Irwin skated on the third defensive pair with Yannick Weber, replacing Matt Carle, who was a healthy scratch again. Irwin played 153 regular-season and 13 playoff games for San Jose from 2012-13 to 2014-15. ... Sharks G Martin Jones made his eighth start in nine games this season. ... Predators RW Miikka Salomaki (upper body) missed his sixth straight game.