San Jose Sharks Kick Off Longest Road Trip In Detroit
The San Jose Sharks kick off their longest road trip of the season, a 10-day, six-game road trip against Eastern Conference foes. San Jose faces a Detroit Red Wings team that in many ways is in a similar situation as the Sharks.
Detroit is transitioning from a long-time coach as Mike Babcock is now with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Also, the Red Wings have two aging stars in Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk while trying to incorporate younger players into the lineup. Sounds eerily familiar to the Sharks who moved on from former Red Wings assistant Todd McLellan and have two aging stars in Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton.
Thus far, both teams are middling along as the Sharks sit with a 7-8-0 record (14 points), while the Red Wings are slightly better with a 8-6-1 record (17 points) in their first seasons under Peter DeBoer and Jeff Blashill respectively.
This is a big two-game stretch for San Jose as they face Detroit tonight, before taking on the upstart Buffalo Sabres tomorrow. The Sharks are looking to snap out of their recent funk as they’ve only won three of their past 11 games. A good start to this road trip could allow San Jose to build some confidence and momentum that could carry them throughout the trip.
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Players to Watch
Sharks: Patrick Marleau. His name has obviously been in the news with all the trade rumors, but Marleau is still counted upon to produce for San Jose. Keep an eye on his performance to see how he and his teammates respond to the situation. Marleau is moving back to center against Detroit and he’s fifth on the team with nine points (four goals and five assists) currently.
Red Wings: Dylan Larkin. Larkin has been an impressive rookie in Detroit, tying for second on the Red Wings with 10 points (four goals and six assists). Even more surprising, Larking leads Detroit with a plus-11 rating, eight better than the next closest Red Wing (plus-three).
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- Tomas Hertl is off to a hot start
Keys to the Game
1. Quick Start/Score First
This has been a constant theme over the course of the entire season for the Sharks. Recently, San Jose has been plagued by giving up the first goal, oftentimes early in the contest. Case-in-point, the Sharks gave up two goals less than four minutes into the game against the Islanders, and San Jose has now fallen behind in six of their past seven games (1-6-0 record).
2. Depth Scoring
DeBoer shook up his lines ahead of tonight’s matchup as he searches for the right line combinations to provide a consistent performance. The Sharks need more from the likes of Tommy Wingels, Matt Nieto, Chris Tierney, and the rest of the bottom-six to help provide meaningful minutes and production.
3. Find a Way to Win
San Jose has fallen on hard times, but they must find a way to snap out of their funk. It doesn’t matter how it happens, but the Sharks need two points to hopefully kick start their play. San Jose needs to be the one to make the final play, rather than falling one play short as they have during their 3-8-0 run.
Next: Marleau Situation Represents Crossroads For The Sharks
TV/Radio Broadcast
TV: CSN-California (4:30 p.m. PST)
Radio: 98.5 KFOX