Sharks at Oilers
THE STORY: The San Jose Sharks are trying to make it to the
All-Star break in first place in the Pacific Division. All they need to
do is survive the Western Canada triangle. The Sharks fell just short in
their first stop at Vancouver on Saturday and visit the lowly Edmonton
Oilers on Monday before closing the first half at Calgary. Teams
regularly schedule the British Columbia-Alberta swing as one trip, and
several of those teams have used the Oilers to make it out of the
triangle with at least two points. Of Edmonton’s eight regulation home
losses, five have come to non-division opponents. The Oilers have
dropped eight of nine overall and have been outscored 11-4 during their
current three-game slide. San Jose skids into the contest having dropped
three of its last four while allowing four goals in each of the
setbacks.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, TSN (Edmonton), CS California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE SHARKS (26-14-5):
San Jose’s biggest troubles this season have come on special teams,
where it ranks in the bottom half of the NHL on the power play and the
penalty kill. Logan Couture tried his best to single-handedly fix that
with short-handed and power-play goals Saturday but the Sharks lost 4-3.
San Jose has been getting better on the penalty kill, snuffing out 19
of 21 chances in the last 10 games.
ABOUT THE OILERS (17-26-4):
Edmonton has surrendered at least four goals in nine of its last 11
losses. While no team could be expected to outscore that lack of
defense, the Oilers have been extremely poor at finding the net. They
have not topped two goals in any of their last seven contests. Edmonton
has a rookie to be excited about in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and figure to
add a few more young pieces at the upcoming trade deadline. Veteran
right wing Ales Hemsky’s name has been tossed around in several trade
rumors.
OVERTIME:
1. Nugent-Hopkins is out until next month with a shoulder injury.
2. Couture has three points - two goals - in five career games against Edmonton.
3.San Jose has taken eight of the last 10 meetings, including a 3-2 triumph on Dec. 17.