The Sharks will take to the ice tonight against a confident New York Islanders team that has won three straight, just like San Jose, to start the season. The Isles are no longer an irrelevant team in the NHL; they have a goaltender, deeper defense and added offensive depth in the off-season. This is certainly not the same pushover group of dejected souls we’ve seen over the last several years.
Alex Stalock will be in the cage for the Sharks as head coach Todd McLellan continues his rotation of goaltenders early in the season. At some point, though, he’s going to have to give the netminders a string of games in a row to try and build some momentum regardless of tough scheduling. It comes as no surprise that Stalock will be in net, for the simple reason Niemi didn’t have a great game against Washington. Now the Sharks 1B will have a chance to gain the upper hand on his fellow cage guardian in the battle for the number one job.
Three Keys To Tonight’s Game:
Limit John Tavares
You’re not going to stop him. Tavares is too good, and he’s in the same ‘limit’ class as Stamkos, Crosby and Malkin. He’s going to get chances but the Sharks have to limit those chances to low percentage ones and take away his passing lanes as much as possible. The Sharks definitely can’t ignore Tavares, like they did Ovechkin, while the Isles are on the power play. Braun and Vlasic are going to have their hands full defending against one of the best players in the NHL tonight with little room for error.
Traffic In Front Of The Net
Halak can’t stop what he can’t see. The Islanders defenders are excellent on the boards and the Sharks need to use their big bodies against them and park them in front of Halak. When goaltenders are forced to go low and track the puck is when problems arise for them; San Jose needs to keep the dangle to a minimum against a dangerous breakout team like New York and settle down in the offensive zone. If you can keep Boychuk out of the corners it will give the offense more room to move around down low and open up an option elsewhere.
Don’t Let Up
Should the Sharks continue their trend of domination in the first period, or simply gain a multi-goal lead by way of puck luck, they need to keep their foot down on the pedal. No one wants to run up a score on a team, I get that, but this isn’t Canada vs Belarus: it’s the NHL. If you don’t keep your foot on the opposition’s throat when you get them then you’re going to run into the same trouble that San Jose has run into in each of the first three games.
The Sharks have opened up the season with wins against the groggy, Cup hungover, LA Kings, the Kane-less Jets and a Holtby failure. Now they’re playing one of two teams, other than themselves, that remain undefeated. The game tonight could be the first real test from the opening puck drop for San Jose in the early goings of the season. I don’t anticipate a 3-0 lead after one against the Islanders, but I do expect San Jose to control the play more consistently.
It’s going to be interesting to see how McLellan utilizes the fourth line tonight. With John Scott in the lineup against Washington the coaching staff showed less faith in the fourth unit but still put them in the rotation. John Scott’s goal quota for the next 15 years has been filled so we shouldn’t get too excited about seeing Andre the Giant snipe another anytime soon. The Sharks lineup, save for Stalock, isn't expected to deviate from the Captials game with the exception of Hannan out/Mueller in, but nothing is set as of yet.
It should be an exciting game tonight as two of the three undefeated teams in the league look to put a blemish on the others’ record.
Milestone Watch:
Joe Thornton is three points away from 1200 and is now within reach in a single game of hitting the mark.
Patrick Marleau is four assists shy of 500.
Thanks for reading.