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Sharks @ Oilers Game 56 Preview

By Jeff Chapman
This might be a penalty.
This might be a penalty.
Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Spor



Sharks3

@
Oilers3
34-13-6, 1.396 p/g Ranks 17-32-9, .728 p/g
Western Conference: 4th Western Conference: 14th
5th P/G 29th
1st ST 26th
7th ES 28th
4th Goal 30th
7:30 PM MDT - Sportsnet West
Rexall Place
The opposing view: Fear The Fin


Adventures In Success

Oilers took down those wretched Vancouver Canucks by a 4-2 marker on Monday.  David Perron scored his second career hat trick in the victory, while the game winner was scored by Jesse Joensuu.  Oilers will put their current two game winning streak to the test when a very good San Jose team comes to Rexall Place.

The Oilers are saying
"It's good to get some sunlight into the cave once in a while"

That's Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu, who scored his second goal of the season in Edmonton's 4-2 victory over the Canucks on Monday night.

The Allegory Of The Cave

Joensuu scored a rare goal that turned out to be the game winner.  The Oilers won the game despite being outhit. Hits of course, aren't at all a very important metric (although MSM would have you believe otherwise), and would you believe that no one had to avenge anyone in this game?  Zack Kassian was kept to two shots and no points, but he did provide us with this six seconds of zen.

The Opponent is saying

"Alex (Stalock) was real good...Excellent experience for him tonight playing against that team, to fight trough their size and their strength around the net, their deflections.  It was very solid and we're very happy with him."
That's Sharks coach Todd McLellan on goalie Alex Stalock's performance versus the LA Kings.

Stalock turned aside 20 of 21 Kings shots en route to a 1-0 loss, a rare moment where the Sharks scored zero goals in a game.  McLellan has reason to be satisfied with both of his goalies.  Antti Niemi is sitting on a .913 SV% in 44 games, while Stalock has played exceptionally well with a .943 SV% in 13 games.

What does it all mean?  When you're a good team, the guy doing the majority of the heavy work (Niemi) can be slightly better than average and it all works out.  (The Sharks are sixth overall in shots allowed with 27.9 per game) I'm looking at you, Oilers, and your suitcases of cash that you might be tossing at Jaroslav Halak in a few months. Maybe save some of that cash and throw it on your blue line?

It'll be interesting to see which goalie gets the start tomorrow in Calgary if the Sharks win tonight.

Of note:
  • Last time the Oilers had a two game winning streak was...well, a while ago.  Ah yes, it was December 23-27, when the mighty Oilers tackled those Western Conference powerhouse Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames. The last three game winning streak for this team was mid-November.
  • Both Ales Hemsky (ankle) and Andrew Ference (head) are questionable for today's game.
  • Hey, look at Nail Yakupov.  Two assists against the Canucks on Monday, a goal in the previous game against Nashville.  Can we talk about something stupid like how he's not a good quote, or how he's -30 like any of that matters?  What about hits, are those still cool?  You guys are squares, man.
  • GOILERS

The San Jose Sharks

Joe Pavelski - Joe Thornton - Matthew Nieto

Tommy Wingels - Patrick Marleau - Brent Burns

Bracken Kearns - Andrew Desjardins - Tyler Kennedy

Eriah Hayes - John McCarthy - Mike Brown

Dan Boyle - Matt Irwin

Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Jason Demers

Brad Stuart - Justin Braun

Antii Niemi

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Edmonton Oilers

Taylor Hall - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle

Nail Yakupov - Sam Gagner - David Perron

Matt Hendricks - Boyd Gordon - Ryan Jones

Luke Gazdic - Ryan Smyth - Jesse Joensuu

Nick Schultz - Justin Schultz

Anton Belov - Corey Potter

Jeff Petry - Martin Marincin

Ben Scrivens