On Monday January 19th. the Sharks will play host to the
New Jersey Devils and you pal Ian is going to be Breaking It Down! This is your semi regular officially
unofficial game preview post that gives you some quick numbers and my opinions on
not only our Sharks but their opponent of the night.
Know Your Team - The San Jose Sharks
Current Record (W-L-OTL): 24-16-6, 54 Points and 2nd in
the Pacific Division
Last 10 Games: 5-4-1
Power Play: 21.1% (8th.)
Penalty Kill: 81.9% (13th.)
Current Streak: 1 game losing streak.
Notes: Sharks are ahead of Vancouver by a point but
Vancouver once again has 3 games in hand.
Know Your Enemy - The New Jersey Devils
Current Record: (W-L-OTL): 16-22-8, 40 Points and 7th in
the Metropolitan Division
Last 10 Games: 4-5-1
Power Play: 20.6% (9th.)
Penalty Kill: 79.0% (24th.)
Current Streak: 1 game losing streak
Notes: The question for the Devils is not if the playoffs
are possible rather what draft position they might end up with.
Ian Breaks Down The Devils: The New Jersey Devils cannot catch a
break. This is a team that in recent
memory has lost an irreplaceable player in Kovalchuk to the KHL, Zach Parise in
free agency and probably mismanaged the decline of easily hall of fame
goaltender Martin Broduer. Behind the
scenes they have had ownership issues as well.
My opinion is that although Lou Lamoriello is a revered GM who will
forget more about hockey than I'll never know, he may have been done one of the worst jobs adapting to the salary cap. This is
a team that although the cupboard isn't bare I'd argue its nothing to write
home about and has just a strange group of players that is eating up all by
around 2 million in cap space according to NHL Numbers (which is the best I can
do without cap geek.), however with most of that talent coming off the books after
the 15/16 season it may be time for some fresh eyes. Tonight the Sharks will
face Schneider who has not fared well against the Sharks thus far in his
career, in 9 games he has 3 W, 5 L and 1 OTL with a scary 30 goals against,
3.55 GAA and .896 SV%. Unfortunately
former Sharks Ryane Clowe will not be in the lineup tonight as he has been
sidelined most of the year and it appears that Jagr will also not be playing as
he is recovering from the flu.
Ian Breaks Down The Sharks: The San Jose Sharks are
coming off a game where their effort was erratic shifting from non-existence to
the Sharks we used to know back to non-existence. This uneven effort lost them a very valuable
point in the pacific Division Race. The
Sharks appear to be turning to Alex Stalock in goal tonight for his first start
in a while and only his 11th of the season.
While I don't think Niemi is in any danger of losing ice time it would
be really nice to see Stalock have a good outing and validate the opinions of
those who would like to have seen a goaltending competition rather than spit a
few games and watch Nemo start the next 30.
This is a game where the Sharks should be guaranteed points
unfortunately this is the type of game the Sharks have left empty handed far
too often this year.
My Prediction: Sharks win a much needed game in
regulation and continue to challenge for the 2nd seed in the Pacific. Stalock shows why we had this garbage Nemo vs.
Stalock thing start in the first place and everyone gets along.
Remember if you have a question you would like me to
answer in the Breaking It Down blog please e-mail me at
ian.blogs.sharks@gmail.com and if you want to read previous blogs please check
out http://ianblogssharks.blogspot.ca
What are your thoughts on tonight's game?
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