The San Jose Sharks get a little bit country tonight as they face off against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. This is will be toughest test of the short season so far in the city they call Smashville.
I’ll talk about the San Jose Sharks in a second. But, I wanted to preface this article by saying that it was a forward lateral. Everyone knows it was a forward lateral. Frank Wycheck, deep down in his heart of hearts, knows that it was a forward lateral too. The Music City Miracle should be renamed the Music City Mirage. I’m no Buffalo Bills fan, but Logan Couture is, and well I support him! We now resume our regular programming…
The San Jose Sharks face their toughest test of the season tonight against the Nashville Predators. A team that carries the best record in all of hockey, and, on paper, a team who can go toe to toe with the Sharks blue line.
Nashville comes into tonight’s game on their home ice with a record of 7-1-0. Easily the best in all of hockey, and find themselves atop the Central Division which, most would argue is the best division in the sport. The Central is loaded with teams like Colorado, Winnipeg, St. Louis, and the all of a sudden hot Minnesota Wild. And lets not count out a healthy Chicago Blackhawks team either.
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This will be the biggest game of the year by far for the San Jose Sharks. Team Teal begins an equally hard roadie starting tonight in Nashville, then a stop in Raleigh, North Carolina against a very young, very pesky, very good Hurricanes team who find themselves atop the Metropolitan division. And then a quick turn around back to California at the Honda Center against rival Anaheim Ducks.
The San Jose Sharks seem up to the task however, as this team is blazing hot. Their record does not indicate it, but the Sharks, statistically are one of the best teams in all of hockey. They lead in the NHL in both Corsi For% with a whopping 61% and are second in the NHL in Shots per game with 39. They trail only Friday’s opponent the Carolina Hurricanes in that category.
The San Jose Sharks are hot defensively as well, as tonight’s starting goalie Martin Jones has saved 48 of his last 50 shots, and is looking more and more like 2016 Jones every day. Jonesey seems to always get off to a slow start, but he tends to show up in big games. And this one, is about as big as it gets for the beginning of the season.
San Jose Sharks/Nashville Predators games are always good ones, as these two sides have formed a bit of a rivalry in recent years. We all remember the great Scott Parker v. Brendan Witt jaunt. And the many playoff contests, including the seven gamer in 2016 on the way to the Stanley Cup Finals for the Sharks (This writer was at that game 7 at the ‘Tank!).
You can catch this one tonight on national television, as this game will be on NBC Sportsnet, at 5:00pm pacific time, and as always you can stream the game via the San Jose Sharks app and at KFOX 98.5