Could NHL Stadium Series Be Critical for Sharks?

Remember when the NHL Stadium Series was mainly fun and games? Well, it won’t be as much fun for the San Jose Sharks now that the points are on the line this far into the season. They’ve had a habit of dropping valuable points against teams whom, really, they should’ve been able to beat. I’m talking about those non-playoff contenders like Buffalo, Carolina, and Edmonton, yet they seem to have been able to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, probably because they were actually playing their game which the Leafs just couldn’t keep up with. But I digress.

I was listening to the podcast run by Pucknology, a blog edited by a fellow Sharks fan Erik Kuhre, the night the Sharks lost their game and season series to the Calgary Flames. Among the topics he and two other Shark fans discussed was the NHL Stadium Series this season. I’d actually asked him about it on Twitter earlier this morning via Direct Message and he noted that because the Sharks are struggling they need a big performance to generate more interest, which if they win will also be a HUGE confidence booster for the rest of the season in the playoff race and heading into the playoffs.

Honestly, I agree with him. He brought up a great point with that along with the fact that if the Sharks do indeed lose the outdoor game against L.A., interest will snowball further and the amount of non-sellouts will continue. We’ve seen time and time this season that whenever they’re struggling to string together wins, they play a huge rival like the Anaheim Ducks and finally earn themselves a win. That not only boosts their confidence, but also makes their fans happy.

The Sharks and Kings have perhaps the most underrated rivalry in the NHL. The fans know it, the players, the coaches, and even Gary Bettman, the League’s commissioner. You pile that on top of the fact that the Bay Area and Northern California in general, up until February 21st, has not had a professional hockey game outdoors IN IT’S HISTORY, and you’ve obviously generated a lot of interest in this game. I mean, who doesn’t love a great rivalry game outdoors? The Sharks also have a few more reasons to take this game a bit more seriously; they were ousted by their main arch rivals last postseason in the first round and the Los Angeles Kings pretty much have had their number despite the fact that San Jose leads the season series 2-1.

You ever wonder why the Sharks have not had a consistent sell-out streak this season? It’s directly tied with the inconsistent season that the group has had overall. Yes, there’ve been nights when they’ve played absolutely lights out but there’ve also been a lot more nights than there should be when they’ve shown lackluster efforts on the ice. They need to play their game on February 21st and they need to play their best against the Kings if they want to get rolling again. Oh, and that applies to tonight’s game against the Washington Capitals along with the next four games against the Arizona Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Nashville Predators, and Dallas Stars, three of four of those games being on the road. The more wins they pick up leading to the Stadium Series game, the more confidence and ground they gain. Even if they don’t pick up all the points, like say they lose to Dallas, they have to reset and refresh for the big game on that Saturday, and they have Friday off so it should be plenty of time for them to get back into game mode and worry about getting the two points against the L.A. Kings.

Bottom line is they need to get on a roll and they need to do that preferably starting tonight. The points are too valuable to give up at this time of the year. Although the Stadium Series is all in good fun and great for hockey, especially in California, it’s still a big one with a huge two points involved.

What’s YOUR opinion? Vote in the poll below and comment on whether or not you think the Stadium Series game is a big one for the standings, not just for California hockey.