San Jose Sharks Strive to Extend Playoff Winning Streak to 5 in Game 2
The San Jose Sharks have an opportunity to win their 5th straight playoff game tonight in Game 2 against the Colorado Avalanche at the SAP Center.
This evening the San Jose Sharks face-off in Game 2 against the Colorado Avalanche. The Sharks won the first game of Round 2 on the back of Martin Jones and the play of their third line. Their going to need more of a total team effort in order to win their 5th straight Stanley Cup Playoff game.
Team Teal was able to keep the Colorado Avalanches best players from scoring in Game 1. Coach Pete DeBoer got the better of Avs Coach Jared Bednar using home ice to his advantage. DeBoer plans on using the same formula in Game 2, but should anticipate some adjustments from Colorado’s bench boss.
Martin Jones seeks to keep playing strong in net. The 29-year-old has registered a 0.943 save percentage during this 4 Playoff game winning streak. He’s kept the worn out Sharks afloat in critical moments so far in this years Stanley Cup Playoffs despite his poor start to the postseason.
Something that has been fun to watch in this series is Brent Burn’s performance in his newly acquired role as “shut-down defenseman” beside Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Burns not only kept the big 3 of the Avalanche from scoring. He made a few noticeable defensive stops that made you rethink your preconceived notions of the 34-year-old blueliner. DeBoer is subtly thumbing his nose at Drew Doughty with this newly configured shut down duo.
With the Sharks using their top two lines to shut down top tier of the Avs lineup, the third line of Jumbo, Sorenson, and Labanc were extremely effective on Friday night. The San Jose Sharks could really benefit from a bit more production on offense. Despite what the scoreboard suggests Team Teal didn’t play their game. They were outpaced by Colorado in scoring chances and offensive zone time.
The San Jose Sharks continue to get great starts from Martin Jones, although he can only prevent so much. That means the Sharks will need to figure out at way to get the puck out of their zone and down to the other end of the ice for some sustained pressure on Philip Grubauer. That task is easier typed in a blog post than done, considering the high-caliber talent on the Avalanche roster.
No morning skate means we have absolutely no idea what lineups to expect from the two coaches. However here’s a general idea of what to expect on this ice this evening at the SAP Center.
San Jose Sharks
Forward Combinations
Timo Meier ~ Logan Couture ~ Gus Nyquist
Evander Kane ~ Tomas Hertl ~ Lukas Radil
Marcus Sorensen~ Joe Thornton ~ Kevin Labanc
Micheal Haley ~ Barclay Goodrow ~ Melker Karlsson
Defensive Pairings
Marc-Edouard Vlasic ~ Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon ~ Erik Karlsson
Joakim Ryan ~ Justin Braun
Goalie
Projected Starter ~ Martin Jones
Backup ~ Aaron Dell
Colorado Avalanche
Forward Combinations
Gabriel Landeskog~ Nathan MacKinnon ~ Alexander Kerfoot
Colin Wilson ~ Carl Soderberg ~ Mikko Rantanen
Matt Calvert ~ JT Compher ~ Matt Nieto
Tyson Jost ~ Derick Brassard ~ Gabriel Bourque
Defensive Pairings
Ian Cole ~ Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov ~ Tyson Barrie
Cale Makar ~ Samuel Girard
Goalie
Projected Starter ~ Philipp Grubauer
Backup ~ Semyon Varlamov
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The San Jose Sharks are seeking their 5th straight Stanley Cup Playoff win in 10 days. However they’ll be in for a tough task maintaining home ice advantage over Nathan MacKinnon and company looking to bounce back from an unproductive Game 1 performance.
Puck drop for tonight’s game at the SAP Center is at 4:00 PM PT. The game will be televised nationally on NBCSN. The audio can be streamed on the Sharks App courtesy of 98.5 KFOX.