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The Sharks go for eight wins in nine games |
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Ryan Leong with a preview of tonight's game. Cam will have post-game analysis.
One thing is now certain, the Sharks will NOT go 48-0-0. Saturday night, the Predators played a disciplined team game and were nearly perfect for 60 minutes. In the end, although the Sharks took the game to a shootout and get a point, Team Teal failed to extend their winning streak to eight games and Nashville wins it 2-1.
With their best start in franchise history at 7-0-1, the Sharks know to expect everyone's 'A' game.
Each of the last three Sharks games have been tough. Again a big part of that is teams playing more disciplined hockey and preventing the Sharks from having any open space on the ice to generate scoring chances.
In the last game, Martin Havlat would have made both the Contenders and Pretenders list.
Off a shot from Ryane Clowe, in the slot, the puck skittered past Preds goalie Pekka Rinne. Havlat as many hockey players do, should have been poking at the loose puck until it was in the net. Instead, as he saw the rubber disk slide by, he started celebrating early and missed a golden opportunity to score an easy goal, earning the top spot on the pretenders list.
But then he redeemed himself in the third period with a backhander in the crease with the man advantage to tie the game.
And then the Sharks played their third straight overtime game which was also decided in a shootout.
The big test for the Sharks is tonight as they go for a second win in six days against Anaheim.
San Jose became the third team in NHL history to win its first five games of the season.
The Sharks power play has had a bit of a brownout of late, scoring only once in 12 chances on the Havlat goal. San Jose was 12 for 32 (37.4 percent) in the first five games.
But the penalty kill has been lights out, stopping 21 straight power play chances. Last week vs. the Ducks, the Sharks penalty kill was 4-for-4.
And Team Teal won't have to worry about defenseman Cam Fowler. Ducks beat writer Eric Stephens from the Orange County register reports that Fowler is out for tonight's game with a upper body injury and will be replaced by rookie Sami Vatanen. Fowler suffered a nasty hit from the Kings Jarrett Stoll.
The injury occured early in the second period when Stoll appeared to grab Fowler's jersey as the two slammed into the far boards -- Fowler hitting the boards face-first and then crumpling to the ice.
You may recall Brad Stuart put a big hit on Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog and he is on injured reserve after suffering a head injury.
Another change in tonight's starting lineup: young Viktor Fasth's will be in net instead of Jonas Hiller. This is only the career third start for Fasth. He is 2-0-0 with a .938 SV% and 1.44 GAA. In just two starts, Fasth has allowed only three goals against. By comparison, Hiller, is 3-1-1 with .871 SV% and 3.54 GAA. In five starts, Hiller has allowed 18 goals against.
San Jose Sharks Blogger • 
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