San Jose Sharks Shoot Up To Second In Pacific Division

It doesn’t take much to ascend in the weak Pacific Division this season, and the San Jose Sharks bore that fact out over the course of the past week. The Sharks rode a three-game winning streak to rise up to a tie for second place in the division as San Jose now sits two games over the .500 mark (10-8-0) with 20 points.

It didn’t look good for the Sharks as they had a 1-3-0 home stand before embarking on their longest road trip of the season, a six-game trek through the Eastern Conference. However, San Jose has responded by taking all six points on their trip thus far, and they’ve been a much better road team in the early going, sporting a 7-3-0 record away from SAP Center.

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Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Kings continue to be the class of the division, matching the Sharks with three straight wins of their own, including a 3-2 shootout victory over the Flyers last night when Milan Lucic tied the game with less than one minute remaining in the third. The Kings are getting it done behind an air tight defense which ranks second in the league in goals against per game at 2.11.

The Vancouver Canucks are tied with San Jose with 20 points as well, but they’ve been sliding back to the pack in recent weeks. The Canucks are maintaining their standing within the division by accumulating points even when they’re losing. Vancouver has lost three straight games, but they’ve had six overtime losses this season as they haven’t found any success in the new overtime format.

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The upstart Arizona Coyotes continue to hang around the playoff picture as they are just one point behind the Sharks in fourth place. The Coyotes are led by young center Max Domi who is a real treat to watch. Domi leads Arizona with eight goals and is second on the team with 16 points. He will be a force in this league for years to come and will be a nightmare for Pacific teams to deal with.

Next up is the Anaheim Ducks who appeared to turn a corner in the month of November, rattling off four consecutive wins to begin the month. However, they’ve returned to their early season ways as they’ve now dropped four of their past five games, as they’re still struggling to generate any consistent offensive output. The Ducks are still last in the NHL with 1.79 goals per game and tied with Philadelphia with only 34 goals scored for the year.

At least Corey Perry has regained his scoring touch, leading the way with five goals, although his running mate in Ryan Getzlaf is stuck on only one goal for the season.

Rounding out the bottom of the division are the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers, who have struggled all season long. Both teams have been hurt by porous defensive play as the Flames rank dead last in goals against per game, allowing 3.65, while the Oilers aren’t much better, ranking 28th with 3.22 per game.

Next: Sharks Edge Bruins In High Scoring Affair

San Jose will look to continue their perfect road trip as they travel to Philadelphia for a matchup against the Flyers tomorrow night. The Sharks will then wrap up their season-high, six-game roadie with back-to-back games against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets as San Jose looks to continue their climb up the Pacific Division.