Losing sucks. Losing makes showing up to meetings sucks, Losing makes showing up to the rink suck. Heck, losing makes writing blogs suck.
Thankfully, the San Jose Sharks found a way to win a freaking game and put an end to the that Steve Palumbo San Jose Sharks Blogger Jinx thingy.
They took care of Montreal with nice 3-1 win to kick off the road trip in style.
Joe Pavelski woke up from his slumber and had a goal and an assist. Patrick Marleau and Dainus Zubrus also chipped in and Martin Jones made 26 saves.
Jones is now 13-10-2 with a 2.24 GAA and .920 save percentage. Not too shabby when you consider how bad he and his team have been at home. Only three of his 13 wins are at the SAP.
San Jose finally ended that dreadful six-game losing streak and improved to 11-5-1 on the road and are 15-14-1 for the year.
It was a classic Pete Deboer win. Old Pete was forced to move Zubrus up in the lineup to replace Tomas Hertl, who was scratched after warm-ups. Zubrus scores a goal and Pete looks like a genius... for the moment.
Truthfully, the Sharks were anything but perfect. They were outshot and outplayed for long stretches in the game. Montreal held a decided shot advantage for most of the game. Jones bailed his teammates out and San Jose was able to build off getting the lead. Not a great recipe for success, but a recipe nonetheless.
Not mention the Canadiens have been struggling a bit themselves and are now just 2-4-1 in their last seven games. So, there's that.
But, I'm not here to rain on anybodies parade though.
A win is a win is a win and as I mentioned above...losing sucks.
Tonight's opponent, the Toronto Maple Leafs are a team in transition and could be a trap game for San Jose.
The Sharks won both meetings between these two clubs last season and win tonight would give them back-to-back wins for the first time since late November.
What to watch for...
- Can San Jose keep the road warrior thing going? They are 11-5-1 away from the SAP and they seem to play more relaxed in front of the enemies crowd. Will it carry over in Toronto?
- San Jose moved back up to second place in the Pacific with Tuesday's win, but a busy NHL schedule could change all that. Lose tonight and they could find themselves back out of playoff spot just like that.
- The goalie carousel continues in Toronto. Looks like Garrett Sparks will make his fifth start against San Jose. He's been good, posting a 3-1 record in his first four NHL starts. Note: Deboer coached teams like to lose to back-ups. Keep an eye out for that.
- Martin Jones has been a beast on the road. He's 10-3-1 with 1.91 GAA and ridiculous .931 save percentage. That's good.
- Finally, the Sharks will have to play better than they did on Montreal if they want to start a new winning streak. Which team shows up tonight?
Thanks for reading, Steve