San Jose Sharks are in Desperation Mode Against the Chicago Blackhawks
The San Jose Sharks are on a 6 game losing streak going 0 – 5 – 1 during that span. After a break in the schedule Team Teal seeks to build momentum versus the Chicago Blackhawks.
This is known as the “dog days” of the NHL schedule and the San Jose Sharks have definitely been dogging it of late. After 6 straight defeats Team Teal have a prime opportunity to stop the bleeding against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Chicago’s playoff situation looks bleak heading into Thursday evenings contest. However Team Teal should expect the Blackhawks potent offense on display at the SAP Center. The Sharks have struggled mightily to limit goals over their current losing streak giving up a miserable 4.3 goals per game.
A lot of the blame is being thrown around in many different directions and if you peak at the underlying numbers during this stretch the San Jose Sharks everyone is deserving of it. Team Teal continues to suffer from lackluster goaltending recording a 0.859 SV% over the course of the losing streak, per naturalstattrick.
The Sharks need better from their goalies but overall the team defense isn’t doing them any favors. They continue to surrender high danger breakaway chances that come off of careless turnovers. These result in grade A scoring chances that leave the netminder out to dry versus skaters that know how to convert them into goals.
Something that has also plagued Team Teal is that inability to cleanly enter the zone with possession. This exhibits that they are definitely lacking the presence of players like Erik Karlsson, Radim Simek, and Joe Pavelski. Also a sickly Logan Couture hasn’t helped with their transition play considering he is arguably their best skaters on the team and news is he’s feeling better after this 3 day break.
The San Jose Sharks aren’t in for an easy night. The Chicago Blackhawks are fighting for their playoff lives and scraping and clawing for every point they can get. Team Teal is going to have focus on their puck control and clean passes to avoid turnovers that could lead to easy goals for this explosive Chicago offense.
Team Teal will be without the Captain Joe Pavelski once again as he continues to recover from his lower-body injury he suffered during the game against Nashville. The rest of the line-up is the same as what they iced against Detroit on Monday night.
San Jose Sharks
Forward Combinations
Timo Meier ~ Logan Couture ~ Gustav Nyquist
Evander Kane ~ Tomas Hertl ~ Lukas Radil
Marcus Sorensen~ Joe Thornton ~ Kevin Labanc
Melker Karlsson ~ Barclay Goodrow ~ Joonas Donskoi
Defensive Pairings
Joakim Ryan ~ Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic ~ Tim Heed
Brendan Dillon ~ Justin Braun
(Don’t be shocked if we see 44 + 88)
Goalie
Projected Starter ~ Martin Jones
Backup ~ Aaron Dell
Chicago Blackhawks
Forward Combinations
Alex Debrinecat ~ Jonathan Toews ~ Patrick Kane
Brendan Perlini ~ David Kampf ~ Dylan Strome
Brandon Saad~ Artem Anisimov ~ Dylan Sikura
Chris Kunitz ~ Marcus Kruger ~ Dominik Kahun
Defensive Pairings
Duncan Keith ~ Erik Gustafsson
Gustav Forsling ~ Brent Seabrook
Slater Koekkoek ~ Connor Murphy
Goalie
Projected Starter ~ Corey Crawford
Backup ~ Collin Delia
Puck drop for tonight’s game is at 7:30 PM PT live at the SAP Center. The game will be televised on NBC Sports California while the audio is streamed via the San Jose Sharks official app courtesy of 98.5 KFOX.
Sharks Need to Focus on Rest and Recovery. dark. Next
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