The Sharks are in Colorado for a 9ET(6PDT) start against an Avalanche team that have been drastically worse than last season.
I don’t buy that the Avs are as bad as they’ve shown. O’Reilly, Landeskog and MacKinnon have all gotten off to slow starts this year so they’re due to kick into another gear anytime now. If that happens tonight against San Jose then the Sharks could be in for a long night. If the loss to Buffalo taught them anything it should be to respect your opponent no matter where they are located in the standings.
The Sharks are coming off a team-building win over the Anaheim Ducks that saw their four game losing streak snapped. They now have a chance to continue to head in the right direction against the Avalanche. Depth is still an issue for the Sharks even though the team played well against the Ducks. The regular crew provided the offense and possession dominance while the bottom lines of both forward/defence struggled.
I think the Sharks are waiting for the injured players to return before they make any decisions on what to do with their roster. When all the banged up personnel are back management will be able to get a better gauge on where the team is depth-wise. I think a few acquisitions are needed, up front and on the back end, but I doubt we see any movement before the injuries have subsided.
Keys to the Game
Line Match-Ups
The Avalanche will have last change so it’s up to Todd McLellan to try and get the proper lines out against the right opponents. If the Sharks fourth line makes it on the ice while either of the Avs top two lines are out then it’s going to be a disaster. Colorado has two highly skilled lines that need to be checked hard and by the right personnel.
It might be a good game to get Couture to do his best Toews impression and play some Selke-caliber hockey against the Duchene line.
Keep The Chances Down
The Ducks collected 34 shots in their loss to the Sharks. It’s going to be difficult for two non-superstar goaltenders to keep the puck out of the net with consistency if they are constantly getting bombarded with shots every game.
The Sharks defencemen have to push the Avalanche to the outside and take away shots by blocking them or deflecting them away from the net. The goalies need help and the opposing shot totals need to get below the 30 shot mark soon.
The personnel are there, they just need to play better or, perhaps, ensure there’s a defensive/two-way defender on each line.
Player to Watch: James Sheppard
Sheppard has played well since coming back from injury but he hasn’t hit the score-sheet yet. He’s due for a point. He has brought good energy into the lineup and even got in a quick tussle with Ryan Getzlaf in the last game. Hard work eventually gets rewarded and people often forget that he has a pretty good pair of mitts on the end of his arms.
Nikolay Goldobin Update
Goldobin has played in six games for HIFK recording three goals and two assists. He’s played a high of 19:04 TOI and a low of 16:12 TOI with a -5 rating.
After starting off with four points in his first three games, Goldobin has struggled in the last three, recording only one goal while he watched his ice time take a dip.
HIFK is in action later today.
Other Notes:
Groot was suspended for two games for the Anaheim incident.
Tyler Kennedy is close to returning. He was sent to Worcester for conditioning yesterday so we should expect to see him in the lineup fairly soon.
Thanks for reading!