The Sharks are back in action tonight, the World Juniors have started and everything is back to normal. Good times.
Sharks At The WJHC
Mirco Mueller D – Switzerland Noah Rod F – Switzerland Fredrik Bergvik G - Sweden Julius Bergman D – Sweden Nikolay Goldobin F – Russia
How They Did: Day One
The Swiss team wasn’t in action yesterday – they play today – but Sweden and Russia opened their tournaments with games on Friday.
Sweden drummed the Czech Republic 5-2 and Julius Bergman finished the game as a +3 and wasn’t on the ice for any goals against. Fredrik Bergvik was the odd-man-out for the goaltenders yesterday as he watched the game from the stands.
Nikolay Goldobin and Team Russia got a scare against Denmark as they were down 2-0 until 19:13 into the second period when Goldobin scored a powerplay tally to initiate the comeback. Maxim Mamin would tie the game early in the third and overtime solved nothing. Goldobin and Sergei Tolchinski scored in the shootout for Russia as they took two points for the win.
Goldobin and the Russians are off today but the Swiss will open their tournament against the Czech Republic and Sweden will face Denmark.
San Jose vs Los Angeles
Michael Haley has been called up to the big club with the suspension to Sharks resident thug John Scott. Haley brings with him ten goals from the AHL but hasn’t scored a goal – or even registered a single point – in the NHL since March 19th, 2011, so keep expectations low. Haley should line up with Desjardins and McGinn on the fourth line.
The Sharks top nine shouldn’t change heading into this game, unless Nieto makes a surprise comeback, so minor lineup tinkers only. On defense the top four is set now so that shouldn’t be changing. Hannan has been a lock on the blueline’s third pairing so it will either be Irwin or Tennyson charged with skating with him. Given Irwin’s exile to McLellan’s Doghouse Island I’d bet that Tennyson gets the call. After all those days off its hard not to be that Niemi will be in the cage.
There’s a strong feeling out there that Matt Tennyson hasn’t played well since being called up – and it’s a legitimate feeling – but I’m going to defend him. This is from the message board for the last read.
Tim, how are you liking Tennyson so far? Do you think he'll stay in the lineup for most of the season? - Zupes
Tennyson's play so far hasn't been that great, but I'd attribute that more to him being with Scott Hannan than him not being a good defender. I'm not going to be so quick to throw him under the bus with Irwin just yet.
He's played 4 games with Hannan and 2 with Mueller. Here's his CF% in those games:
With Hannan: 29.0% / 36.4% / 38.5% / 47.6% With Mueller: 60.0% / 46.9%
He's notably awful with Hannan but more serviceable with Mueller. I'd like to see Mueller/Tennyson moving forward but McLellan doesn't seem to enjoy sitting Hannan so it's going to be tough for Tennyson to be viewed as a good play under the circumstances. If I'm a betting man I'd say Hannan stays as more of a regular than anyone else below the top four and the 6th defender is a rotation unless Wilson can make a deal for another blueliner.
Hannan and Irwin are both less than desirable defenders – in any situation – so until that is addressed you’ll continue to see poor play from anyone on the third pair.
After early season struggles the Kings offensive guys are getting it done again. Kopitar has 10 points in his last four games and Gaborik is on a five-game point streak featuring nine points. Containing these two players is a must, especially now that they’ve broken free, so the Logan Couture line will have to be on their game tonight.
If they can limit Kopitar they’ll give themselves a great chance to win. The 27-year-old Slovenian is the driving force behind the Kings offense every single season and one of the best centers in the NHL.
For the Sharks this is the other half of the Battle of California. San Jose is 3-0-1 against both of their in-state rivals this season so they can take a positive outlook into the contest with them. Last year’s postseason has upped the hatred between these two teams – mostly from a frustrated Sharks side – so tonight’s game should be business as usual for one of the best rivalries in the league.
Puck drop is at 10pmET(7pmPDT).
Thanks for reading.