San Jose Sharks Streak To The Top Of The Pacific Division

The San Jose Sharks have used their recent blazing six-game winning streak to vault up the Pacific Division standings. The Sharks went out on the road as a team one game under .500, but they return to the Bay Area now five games over the century mark and tied for first place with the Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific with identical 13-8-0 records and 26 points.

San Jose wrapped up their longest road trip of the season by winning all four of their games last week. The Sharks recorded victories over the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets. San Jose was led by their key players including Patrick Marleau recording his 1,000th career point against Pittsburgh, while Martin Jones recorded three wins and was named the NHL’s first star of the week.

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The Kings, who are in the midst of a five-game road trip, dropped back-to-back games against Detroit and Carolina before bouncing back with a 3-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Monday night. Los Angeles still relies on their third ranked defense, while Jeff Carter (team-leading 20 points) and Tyler Toffoli (team-leading 11 goals) are shouldering the load for the Kings offense which ranks in the bottom half of the league.

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Somehow, the Vancouver Canucks are maintaining their third-place position in the Pacific. The Canucks have gone just 3-6-2 thus far during the month of November, including dropping five of their past six games. The Sedin twins continue to pace the eighth-ranked Vancouver offense at 2.86 goals per game as Daniel Sedin (10 goals and 13 assists) and Henrik Sedin (seven goals and 14 assists) still producing at very high levels.

The upstart Arizona Coyotes are holding off the resurgent Anaheim Ducks at this point, but the Ducks may finally be piecing things together. Arizona has been up-and-down all season long and they are currently on the downswing, losing three of their last four games.

Meanwhile, Anaheim has played better of late, and their two stars are starting to produce. Corey Perry leads the Ducks with seven goals and eight assists, including two goals last time out, while Ryan Getzlaf (14 points) posted five assists against the Calgary Flames last night. The Ducks have finally climbed out of the cellar as the league’s worst offensive attack, and their penalty kill continues to lead the league at 88.5 percent.

Speaking of those Flames, Calgary had their two-game winning streak snapped against Anaheim, and they’ve been doomed by their terrible defense all season long. Calgary has the league’s worse defense (3.59 goals against per game), worst penalty kill (72.1 percent) and the worst goal differential (minus-27). Needless to say, those are all really bad numbers.

While the Edmonton Oilers have shown improvement this year, they just can’t seem to string together any wins. The Oilers have lost five of their past six games as they seem destined for last place in Pacific once again.

Next: Martin Jones Named NHL's First Star

San Jose will look to continue putting points in the bank when they host the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks tonight at SAP Center as the Sharks begin a three-game home stand over the holiday weekend.

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