Comments / New

Sharks vs. Coyotes: Four-game divisional slate begins in the desert

The ornaments have been placed into storage, the stockings unhung, the lights re-spooled and the tree taken down as the NHL restarts its 2013-14 season following a three-day Christmas break. San Jose emerges from their brief vacation two points back of the Los Angeles Kings and seven points back of the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division standings. They’ll have a chance to make up some of that ground with four straight games against division rivals beginning tonight in Arizona.

After a 13-4-2 start to the season, the Coyotes have cooled down a bit as their once red-hot offense has struggled to maintain its early pace. They’re also dealing with injuries to captain Shane Doan and defenseman Zbynek Michalek, one-half of their tough-minutes pairing on the blueline. Playing more minutes due to injuries, center Antoine Vermette has done an admirable job picking up the scoring slack with a hat trick in Ottawa on the ‘Yotes’ most recent road trip as Phoenix remains very much in contention for a Western Conference wild card playoff spot.

San Jose will be without Tomas Hertl, on the shelf until at least early March with a knee injury, and Marty Havlat, who’s nursing a lower-body ailment of his own and didn’t make the trip down to the desert. That leaves the Sharks with forward depth issues akin to the 2011-12 season as well as last campaign prior to the trade deadline. Right now, San Jose has two dangerous lines and not much else. They’ll need their top six, particularly Logan Couture who remains mired in a goalless drought despite generating a ton of quality looks, to break through against a goaltender who has long been the bane of this franchise in order to get the two points tonight. Speaking of Mike Smith, here’s a visual guide to how the Sharks should try to beat him:

Puckinyopants_medium

San Jose Sharks

@

Phoenix Coyotes
23-8-6, 52 points
19-10-7, 45 points
3rd in Pacific
5th in Pacific

6PM PST | Jobing.com Arena | Glendale, Arizona
TV: CSNCA-HD | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: Five For Howling

Projected Sharks Lineup

Joe PavelskiJoe ThorntonBrent Burns
Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Tommy Wingels
Matt NietoJohn McCarthyTyler Kennedy
James SheppardAndrew DesjardinsMike Brown

Marc-Edouard VlasicJustin Braun
Matt IrwinDan Boyle
Brad StuartJason Demers

Antti Niemi
Alex Stalock

Projected Coyotes Lineup

Tim KennedyMartin HanzalRadim Vrbata
Lauri KorpikoskiMike RibeiroDavid Moss
Rob Klinkhammer – Antoine Vermette – Mikkel Boedker
Paul BissonnetteJeff HalpernKyle Chipchura

Oliver Ekman-LarssonConnor Murphy
Keith YandleDerek Morris
Rostislav KleslaMichael Stone

Mike Smith
Thomas Greiss

fear the fin logoAs many of you know, Fear the Fin is an independent site run by Sharks fans for Sharks fans. Help keep Fear the Fin independent by contributing to our GoFundMe or buying merchandise. Proceeds help us pay our writers and fund subscriptions to our favorite analytics sites.


Looking for an easy way to support FearTheFin? Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch this holiday season!