Welcome back from the holiday break. I hope everybody had a blast. Now let us and especially ME get back to business. The San Jose Sharks enter tonight's game with the Anaheim Ducks with wins in six of the last seven games and in sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division.
Coming off a 3-2 win over second place Edmonton on Friday night, the Sharks can pad their division lead while pouring a little sodium chloride in the wounds of a wobbly Anaheim team.
The Ducks are in the middle of a tough stretch that has them playing just one game in nine at the Honda Center. Anaheim have lost two in a row and are just 2-3-1 in their last six games.
The Sharks on the other hand, have won two in a row and seven on their last 10. Led by Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski (32 points apiece), San Jose is firing on all cylinders right now and hope to keep on rolling with a win over the rival Ducks. Anaheim leads the season series 2-1-0 entering tonight's tilt.
I like the Sharks to provide us some post holiday goodies with a "W" in the OC.
***
Some Sharks bites for those who care...
- Brent Burns is having a monster year. Besides being tied for the team lead in points with 32 (13g 19a), he reached a milestone on Friday night when he collected him 300th NHL assist.
- Joe Thornton may not be the point machine he was last season and he certainly isn't putting the puck in the net, but he is still a force to be reckoned with...even at 37 years young. Thornton picked up his 700th point as a Shark. December was his best month statistically. He collected 10 points, all assists, and had at least one point in seven of San Jose's 10 games.
- The other Joe - Joe Pavelski is having himself a season as well. The captain leads with 12 goals and hasn't been held scoreless in consecutive games since mid November.
- Rookie Kevin Labanc is here to stay. Labanc had the first two-goal game of his promising career, including the OT winner, in the win over the Oilers. The native New Yorker now has six goals and two assists in his first 21 NHL games. He has four of those goals in his last 10 games.
- Martin Jones is one of the NHL's best between the pipes. There is no disputing that now. Jones is 18-11-0 with a .919 SV% and 2.08 GAA. His numbers won't blow you away but he as solid and reliable as they come. FYI, He is in the NHL Top 10 in GAA, Wins and shutouts.
- In other news...Mikkel Boedker is still in a funk. Let's hope 2017 is a wee bit more productive.
I will have another blog up tomorrow...pinky promise.
Thank for reading, Steve