San Jose Sharks Trek To DC Before Hosting All Star Weekend

The San Jose Sharks finish up the first half of their season tonight in the nations capital. Team Teal is coming off back to back losses where they’ve allowed 6 goals against. They’re hoping to put together a better defensive effort during their first match-up against the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

If there is one team that has been looking forward to the All Star break more than the San Jose Sharks it’s the Washington Capitals. They’re 3 – 5 – 2 in there last 10 games and losers of 4 straight games. They’ve given up 17 goals in their previous 3 contests with 8 of them coming on Sunday afternoon against Chicago.

Both of these teams would like to build some momentum heading into the extended break, but remaining healthy should be top priority. The San Jose Sharks will more than likely play again without both Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Erik Karlsson. Their absences were noticeable to say the least; Florida  generated tons of high quality scoring chances against the depleted Team Teal defensive core.

Capital Offense

Over the past few games the Washington Capitals depth scoring has seemingly dried up. But the familiar faces continue to drive the offense for this struggling Washington squad. John Carlson has generated four primary points with 10 shots on goal in the previous 5 games. While Caps forward T.J. Oshie has 7 points in 10 games, with 5 created rebounds. The San Jose Sharks depth blue liners are going to be heavily relied upon tonight to stop Washington’s offensive attack, especially considering Team Teal’s best defenders won’t be available.

Floundering Sharks

Team Teal has been extremely underwhelming over the past few games. They’ve done alright in terms of shot share and possession metrics but have failed to convert on any of their scoring chances. Timo Meier logged two points and scored his first goal in 17 games with a very scrutinized second period goal. Hopefully some other Sharks get involved in the offensive zone and help build some momentum into the All Star break.

Puck drop for tonight’s game is at 6:00 PM PT at the Capital One Arena. The game will be broadcasted on NBCSNC and streamed on the Sharks app via 98.5 KFOX.

The statistics in this article were provided by naturalstattrick.com unless stated otherwise.