NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Play, rest, play. Over and over, times 13.

Worked harder than any NHL playoff team with 13 games in 25 days, plus four flights to California, the Nashville Predators earned something very valuable with their third elimination-game victory of the postseason Monday night: an extra day of rest.

Viktor Arvidsson's first playoff goal at 2:03 of overtime gave Nashville a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks at raucous Bridgestone Arena, evening the teams' best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal at three games each.

Game 7 is scheduled for Thursday night, thanks to a Selena Gomez concert Wednesday night at SAP Center in San Jose. It will be the first time in the postseason that the Predators have had two days between games, something coach Peter Laviolette is willing to accept in exchange for the momentum of playing after just one day off.

"It's just been non-stop for us with a game every other day and then the travel," Laviolette said. "I feel like that break is going to give us the extra punch for Game 7. The extra day off is important."

A Sharks goal in overtime would have given Nashville about four months off. Instead, Arvidsson, streaking down the left wing with a pass from Miikka Salomaki, roofed a backhander that appeared to deflect off goalie Martin Jones' shoulder.

The result was the Predators' second overtime win of the series. This one required far less exertion than Mike Fisher's Game 4 winner at 11:12 of the third overtime Thursday night, a fact gleefully noted by Colin Wilson.

"I get to sleep at a normal hour tonight," Wilson said.

It was Wilson who forced extra hockey with his fifth postseason goal -- or one fewer than he managed in 64 regular-season contests -- at 12:44 of the third period. Standing at the left goalpost, he merely had to tap in James Neal's sweet diagonal pass from the right faceoff circle.

Wilson's marker came less than three minutes after San Jose captured a 3-2 lead, courtesy of Logan Couture's power-play tally on a wrister from the left faceoff circle. Predators goalie Pekka Rinne appeared to stumble as he tried to move from right to left to stop the shot.

However, Rinne, who faced just 18 shots, delivered a clutch stop on Joonas Donskoi's dangerous wrister in the first minute of overtime. Arvidsson followed with his goal and then an uncertain reaction.

"The crowd went crazy and I didn't know what to do," he said. "It was nice to see it go in."

Coming off a 5-1 thumping of Nashville in Game 5 on Saturday night, the Sharks notched two quick goals midway through the first period, courtesy of Chris Tierney.

The center tipped a point shot from Marc-Edouard Vlasic under the crossbar at 9:55 -- the goal survived a quick replay review in Toronto -- and then stuffed home a rebound on the backhand side at 11:51. At that point, San Jose had allowed only one shot on goal.

Roman Josi's first goal of the playoffs restored the roar at 15:27 of the first period, as he bounced a short-range backhander over Jones. The Predators defenseman had tried an NHL-high 38 shots without a goal in the postseason prior to that marker.

From that point, Nashville was the better team. Ryan Johansen equalized at 1:25 of the second period during a four-on-four segment, slipping a backhander at point-blank range through Jones' legs.

The Predators outshot the Sharks 27-10 in the last two periods and overtime.

"It's two good teams, and it should come down to a Game 7," San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. "We worked all year to get home ice for this game, and we intend to take advantage of it."

Nashville won the first Game 7 in franchise history on April 27 in Anaheim, setting that up with a Game 6 win at home. The message on the whiteboard in the team's locker room prior to that win-or-die game was the same as it was Monday night: Pack for 6 days.

That's a reference to playing the first two games of the Western Conference finals on the road, a trip the Predators believe they will make from San Jose to either Dallas or St. Louis.

"Any time you draw from a good experience and put it in your back pocket, it's good," Laviolette noted of Game 7 in Anaheim. "But we've got to go into San Jose and do the work. It's going to be a loud building. We've got to do the right things."

NOTES: San Jose C Logan Couture's goal in Game 5 marked his seventh point of the series, the third time he's accomplished that in his postseason career. ... Nashville LW Colin Wilson's assist in the first period of Game 5 gave him a point in six straight playoff games, a franchise record. ... The Sharks scratched Cs Micheal Haley and Tommy Wingels, along with Ds Dylan DeMelo and Matt Tennyson. ... Predators scratches included G Marek Mazanec, D Petter Granberg, C Cody Bass, RW Gabriel Bourque and LWs Eric Nystrom, Pontus Aberg and Austin Watson.