The Minnesota Wild have played good hockey this year but the standings don’t reflect that. Minnesota’s downfall has been their goaltending (.902 Sv%) and struggles on the road.
They play a very good possession game (2nd in NHL) with an average shooting percentage for the league. Their success in the standings has picked up, though, as they've gone 6-3-1 in their last ten games.
So what can the Sharks expect tonight?
They can expect to have a puck battle on their hands.
Game Notes:
- San Jose has recalled Matt Tennyson and Chris Tierney from Worcester so expect them in the lineup for the simple fact the Sharks could pay them a lot less to watch the game instead of playing. - Matt Nieto is still nursing an ankle injury and Mike Brown probably won’t be seen until 2015 some time. Tyler Kennedy is done for a while as well. - Antti Niemi is supposedly alright but after Stalock’s solid performance against Edmonton on Tuesday it might be wise to give Niemi another day off.
Keys to the Game
Capitalize on Chances
A low team save percentage provides San Jose’s big guns with an opportunity to cash in, but they’ll need possession first to do so and Minnesota has been pretty stingy in giving that up to teams this year. If San Jose enters the offensive zone they need to avoid being fancy and get shot attempts. Obviously high percentage shots are preferred, but I’ll take a combination of both as long as they find the net.
If Marc-Edouard Vlasic is unable to play tonight the Sharks are most likely going to need a good chunk of goals to get two points out of this one.
Special Teams
Minnesota has one of the worst powerplays in the NHL but they make up for it with the 2nd best PK (88.9%). Set plays and no nonsense are going to be key for the Sharks if they find themselves a man up tonight. The Wild are too good 4v5 to cycle for two minutes waiting for the perfect play to develop. They’re patient; they’ll just let you practice your passing game.
The Sharks are going to have to play tight to the Wilds PK box and try and pull them out of position. Staying along the boards to make passes are going to get you nowhere against Minnesota.
Forward Depth
The Sharks are a hurting team right now in their bottom six. The guys that end up playing need to keep it simple. Don’t try to out-perform each other to make a case for a roster spot. This isn’t training camp; the Sharks need wins.
If they simplify their game they will have a better chance at not getting embarrassed every time they step on the ice. With such a good possession team on the other side there just isn’t any room for significant errors from anyone that gets a shift.
Projected Lines
I’m going to assume that Vlasic will go, although his status at posting is still questionable.
Hertl-Thornton-Pavelski Marleau-Couture-Wingels Goodrow-Sheppard-Karlsson McGinn-Desjardins-Tierney
Vlasic-Braun Dillon-Burns Mueller-Tennyson
Stalock Niemi
John Scott has played six games in a row, he’s due for a rest but it wouldn’t shock me to see him in the lineup given the way the six games have gone generally in San Jose’s favor. I don’t agree with it, but it wouldn't shock me.
The Sharks are going to have their hands full tonight, especially if there’s no Vlasic, so everyone is going to have to be on top of their game. The scorers are going to have to score; tonight isn’t a night to take off and ride the depth group because good things just won’t happen.
Puck drop is at 10:30pmET(7:30pmPDT)
Thanks for reading.