The Sharks’ lengthy east coast road trip couldn’t be going any better. They’ve put up wins in five straight games for a season-high winning streak, and this afternoon they’ll try to make it six-for-six.

Standing between the Sharks and a perfect road trip are the Columbus Blue Jackets, who topped San Jose earlier this month thanks to 41 saves by Sergei Bobrovsky. The Sharks are 2–7 in their last nine games versus Columbus, but if they can win in Buffalo, they can win anywhere. Only three teams in the league have a worse record than Columbus, and only four have a worse goal differential. Score-adjusted Fenwick isn’t quite as bad, but John Tortorella’s team is still in the bottom third.

The Sharks are basically playing with house money in their second game in 24 hours, but a sweep of the road trip sure would be nice, wouldn’t it? Go Sharks.

Tale Of The Tape

	@
12–8–0	Record	8–13–0
T-1st in Pacific	Rank	7th in Metropolitan
52.0%	Score-Adj. Fenwick	47.8%
100.8	PDO	97.8
13.1	PP%	20.3
78.1	PK%	80.8

2:00 PST – Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: CSN-CA – Radio: KFOX 98.5
Know Your Enemy: The Cannon

Last meeting

The Blue Jackets scored two goals in 29 seconds at the end of the second period and Bobrovsky stopped all but two shots to beat the Sharks. Alex Stalock finished the game after Martin Jones was pulled following the second intermission. Joe Pavelski scored both goals for San Jose.

Storylines

• Last time everyone expected Stalock to start the second game of a back-to-back, Pete DeBoer surprised all of us by starting Jones again. I think it’s safe to say we’ll see Stalock today.
• This’ll be Stalock’s first appearance since making 20 saves on 21 shots in relief of Jones twelve days ago. He stopped 31 of 33 shots against Florida five days before that, so he’s looking for his third-straight solid outing.
• All of the Sharks will probably be tired playing their second game in 24 hours to end the road trip, but Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun especially so. The two played 28:55 and 28:02, respectively, en route to shutting down Pittsburgh’s top line last night.