@ 4:00 PST
36-7-7, 79 points		39-8-7, 85 points
1st in Pacific Division		1st in Northeast Division

Is this the game that makes or breaks the year? Could it be that one sixty minute effort renders all the previous showings inadequate, that a handful of red lights in the wrong direction sheds light on where this organization will go?

Tonight is as big as it gets in February. But in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t Calgary, Anaheim, or Dallas. It’s light years away from Detroit.

You have a Sharks team riddled with inconsistencies since the All Star Break, searching for their mojo. Where are the shots on goal that were in abundance to kick off the year? Can Nabokov manage to close a five hole that has seen more action than Eva Angelina’s? How does McLellan drive home the point “clear the puck up the boards” when the team seems thrilled to give the opposition extra chances in the way of botched clears? Will the breakout ever reach the deadly form that caused the phrase “transition game” to elicit a metaphorical six to midnight when we were a younger version of our current selves?

So many questions, and yet, the answer isn’t going to come out of the woods today. It requires constant vigilance, a bitch of a beast to track down. We may get a sighting in Boston, but only for a brief moment. April is where we see it in it’s entirety, May is the long and grueling hunt, and June is where (God willing) the heavy ammunition comes out to play.

We’re a fickle breed, us Sharks fans. So used to heartbreak, we seem to thrive in the situation. Three losses in a row sends us into a tailspin. We’re grasping at straws, contemplating where things went wrong. Is it not time to enjoy the ride? Thirty games remain in the regular season seas, tides that have been navigated successfully for years in San Jose. Tonight is big yes, but do not mistake it as a defining act. Tonight’s game is a mere mortal, destined to be lost in the sands of time by this date next month.

4 PM in Boston is just a stepping stone leading up to the Church of Lord Stanley. Many men have slipped on these stones, only to pick themselves up and find a way to reach the summit. A summit that is immortal; an expanse can be seen from all corners of this great country. A monument that shakes the foundation of cities, brings grown men to tears, provides prosperous rivers and streams while reducing others to a barren wasteland.

It’s a road we have yet to traverse successfully, but gut instinct says tonight is where we find ourselves back on that trail. Yes the compass will cause conundrums in the future- bearings lost, maps misplaced. But only for a moment.

As for tonight? Tonight is where the big dogs show who has the bigger bite.

Go Sharks.