The San Jose Sharks (33-17-2) are one of the best teams in the Western Conference. The Arizona Coyotes (16-28-6) are not, but records don't matter much when these two clubs meet.
The Coyotes lead the season series 2-0-1, while holding San Jose to two goals or less in all three games.
This time around the Coyotes seem to have all the cards stacked against them. The Sharks are playing inspired hockey these days led by Mr. 500, Patrick Marleau, and Norris Trophy front-runner, Brent Burns.
The Sharks are 8-0-1 in the last nine game, while Arizona is trying to end a seven game (0-6-1) road winless streak.
Can San Jose keep up their white-hot play or will Arizona maintain the regular season dominance?
Here's what to watch for...
- Arizona goalie Mike Smith plays some of his best hockey against the Sharks. In two starts this season against San Jose, Smith is 1-0 with a 1.97 goals against a .954 save percentage. His dominance goes beyond this season. Smith has four of his 31 NHL shutouts vs. the Sharks and in his past five starts against the good guys, he has a 1.99 goals against average and a .952 save percentage.
- In the other cage, Martin Jones, is second in the NHL with 27 victories. Jones is having just as good, if not better, season than last year. He needs 10 more wins to equal last seasons total (37), his save percentage in identical at .918 and his goals against is down from 2.27 to 2.18.
- Brent Burns has 55 points (22 goals, 33 assists). He's third in the league behind Connor McDavid (60 points) and Sidney Crosby (56 points). When do we forget the Norris and go right to league MVP?
- Mikkel Boedker had a painfully slow start but he's really come around. The Sharks free-agent addition has 15 points (4g 11a) in his last 27 games. Much better than the two goals and no assists he had in his first 24 games in teal.
- Joe Pavelski assisted on Patrick Marleau's milestone goal. It was the captain's fourth point (1g 3a) in two games.
- Chris Tierney's two goals the other night increased his season total to six. He needs two more for a new career high. I'm not sure there is enough hockey left in the season for that.
- Joe Thornton has had plenty of big moments against the Coyotes. He played his first NHL game against the 'Yotes and collected career points number 500 and 1,000 against the Arizona franchise. BTW, Jumbo needs six assists for 1,000 in his career. Does he have a six assist night in him or is that being too greedy?
- This is the Sharks’ last game at home before they hit the road for four games. San Jose is 18-7-1 at the SAP Center this season. If the Sharks win tonight they will eclipse their total number of home wins from all of last season (18-20-3).
thanks for reading, Steve