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Sharks at Edmonton pre-game

March 20, 2013, 6:28 PM ET [16 Comments]
Cam Gore
San Jose Sharks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Sharks try to keep the Oilers on the outside looking in, while holding on to the 8th and final playoff position in the west.

San Jose are looking for their first win on this five game road trip after dropping the first two against their in state rivals the LA Kings and the Anaheim Ducks. The Oilers currently sit two points behind the Sharks and are looking for their team’s first playoff berth since the 2006 season when they went to the Cup finals.

The Oilers have been playing better hockey lately with wins over the Blackhawks in Chicago and a 3-0-1 record in their last four games.

Meanwhile the Sharks have lost six of their last seven games and long breaks away from the Shark Tank haven’t been kind to them. Last month they lost five of six on the same road trip and their extended time away from home last year was when things took a turn for the worse.

“We want to put back to back good efforts out there and we can’t seem to right now” commented Logan Couture.
“We need to be consistent to make the playoffs. We’re not consistent right now, we haven’t been all year.”

If the Sharks are looking for an opportunity to turn things around this is it. The Oilers are the only team on this trip they play who are below them in the standings and things won’t get any easier as they move on to Minnesota who have been great at home and then back through Anaheim before they see home ice again.

The Sharks won both previous meetings against Edmonton 6-3 and 3-2. Wednesday’s game will mark the final time these two meet in the regular season this year.

Logan Couture has been hot against the Oil after watching how much attention the young stars from Edmonton got in the Canadian media all summer. He has seven goals in his last nine outings against them.

GM Doug Wilson hasn’t come out and publicly said anything, but rumors continue to surround the Sharks. TSN’s Darren Dreger has stated that Dan Boyle to the Rangers is a hot topic where he would join his former coach John Tortorella. Boyle and Tortorella won the Cup together as part of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004 so this makes a lot of sense.

There has also been Ryane Clowe rumors ending up in the same spot as New York has been missing some grit since they moved Mike Rupp at the beginning of the season to the Wild, but the Toronto Maple Leafs also have been rumored to be in on the Clowe sweepstakes. Clowe will be an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the season while Boyle still has a year left on his contract.

The Sharks are one of those teams who may or may not make the postseason and even if they do how much confidence does the GM have that they will advance past the first round. Either way in or out the question remains does Wilson start the re-tooling of this team, and to what extent does he go to.

There is no doubt that they need something to change the complacent environment that is the Sharks dressing room. To change the chemistry for the better isn’t always easier said than done.

Keep your sticks on the ice,
Cam Gore
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