SAN JOSE — The Sharks played a Nashville Predators team Saturday night that was mostly the same as the one they faced over five months ago when the two teams met in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

With one 6-foot-4, 235-pound difference, of course.

Beating Nashville 4-1 to closing out a three-game homestand, the Sharks didn’t have to deal with defenseman Shea Weber whenever they ventured near the Predators’ goal at SAP Center. That’s not to say the Sharks did whatever they wanted in front of goalie Pekka Rinne, or didn’t respect the shots from the point by the other Predators’ defenseman.

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Sharks’ Brenden Dillon would like to see NHL review process tweaked It’s just a bit different with P.K. Subban there among the Predators’ top four defensemen now instead of Weber.

“You realize they’re missing a big piece, a big guy on their back end,” Sharks center Logan Couture said after Saturday’s 4-1 win.

“A guy that plays tough. Subban adds another dimension, a puck movement guy and a guy that likes to handle the puck. It is a little different between those two. You go to the front of the net, you’re going to pay a price with Webs. Subs likes to carry the puck. I guess a little different.”

Weber had a forgettable night when the Sharks beat the Predators in Game 7 of that series in May, as he and Roman Josi were on the ice for all five San Jose goals. He showed he could have a bad night like everyone else.

So who knows if Weber’s presence would have made a difference if he was on the ice for Joonas Donskoi’s goal in the first period, or Tommy Wingels goal 3:04 into the second, both of which came around the Predators’ net.

In any case, if you came to the Tank hoping to see swashbuckling Subban put on a show, you left disappointed. He had four shot attempts in over 23 minutes of ice time. He was also credited with two hits and two blocks.

“Each game’s a little different in the regular season,” Sharks captain Joe 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.”

The Predators finish their now 0-2-1 road trip with games against Colorado on Tuesday and Arizona on Thursday.

“Frustration’s not going to help anyone,” Predators center Mike Fisher said. “We know we have a good group. Tonight, we got behind but we didn’t give up.”

* Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said Joel Ward went through concussion protocol after he was hit by the Predators’ Mike Ribeiro 8:28 into the third period.

Mike Ribeiro lands a big hit on Joel Ward. #Preds pic.twitter.com/l22u3ybOEB — Mark Harris (@TweetsByHarris) October 30, 2016

Ward went to the Sharks bench, but was off to the dressing room soon enough. DeBoer said he believed it was a situation where an NHL concussion “spotter” said Ward needed to go get checked out.

Ward came back to the bench to finish the game, and had two shifts inside the final four minutes.

Was it a dirty hit by Ribeiro worthy of another look from the league? No penalty was called, but Ribeiro appeared to take a quick peek up ice two seconds before he made contact with Ward.

I asked Pavelski after the game if he saw the hit.

“No, not completely. But it was one of those interference kind of plays,” Pavelski said. “It’s hard to say where the puck is and what happens there.”

* A couple Sharks players and DeBoer were asked if Saturday’s game helped dispel the notion that the Sharks can’t hang with fast teams. The Predators might not be lightning quick, but they’re strong in transition and will make other teams pay for mistakes on the ice.

“I never was concerned about our speed,” DeBoer said. “I only saw one team faster than us last year and that was Pittsburgh. I think we just worry about our game and good things will happen.”

It will be interesting to see how things play out when the Sharks go East next month and face the Capitals, Panthers and Lightning to start off a six-game trip. Or when they come across the high-flying Oilers. For now, the Sharks think they can play it just about any way you want to go.

“We feel we can play fast. We’re confident in our ability to skate with any team in this league,” Wingels said. “We played more like we could tonight and in these last couple games as well here on our homestand. They’re a good team, but we competed hard.”

* The Sharks started Brenden Dillon and David Schlemko on Saturday, perhaps a tip of the cap to how well they’ve been playing lately.

* The Predators’ top line Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen and Kevin Fiala were fed a steady diet of Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun. The Nashville trio combined for six shots on goal and no points. Like in May, too, no?