Sharks vs. Ducks: Division lead up for grabs
The San Jose Sharks face the Anaheim Ducks for the first time since December, coming off a loss that makes no sense against the Florida Panthers.
Hello, there, denizens of Fear the Fin. I'm Jen, a new writer at this here website, but a Sharks fan since 2008/2009 and a former Sharks digital media intern. While my sports writing focuses on baseball and baseball fancystats, I'm making my hockey blogging debut writing about the Sharks. Because Sharks.
When the Sharks last faced the Ducks, it was in Anaheim as part of a home-and-home series and losing in an excruciating matter. Excruciating because a 6-3 loss against the Ducks is just awful. We shouldn't speak of it again. Hopefully this game will take that memory away.
The Sharks and the Ducks are tied at 97 points right now, so, to state the obvious, whoever wins this game will be at the top of the Pacific Division. That lead might be short-lived regardless of who wins, but it'll definitely be a test to the Sharks' strengths as the playoff push goes on.
In their last 10 games, the Ducks are 5-3-2, while the Sharks are 7-2-1 (thanks, six game win streak!). As a whole, the Ducks still have a better PDO with a team number of 101.5, but it's just barely above the Sharks' 100.1. Certainly, it doesn't help that the Florida Men Florida Panthers had Roberto Luongo in the net. The Sharks have a better FF% at 55.7% as opposed to the Ducks' at 50.9%. That just goes to show how incredibly unlucky the Sharks have been.
But the bottom line is this: the Ducks are evil. Have you ever met a duck you liked? I'm not even going to start talking about Corey Perry. Let's get to another competition here: Instagrams. Hockey player instagram accounts can be a frightening thing. However, let's compare two instagram photos: one is the Sharks' Jason Demers and the other is the Ducks' Hampus Lindholm.
vs.
Really, though. Really.
 | @ |  |
| 45-17-7, 97 points | 45-18-7, 97 points | |
| 1st in Pacific | 2nd in Pacific |
7:30PM PST | SAP Center | San Jose, California
TV: CSNCA-HD, TSN | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: Anaheim Calling, Battle Of California
Projected Sharks Lineup
Joe Pavelski - Joe Thornton - Brent Burns
Patrick Marleau - Logan Couture - Matt Nieto
Marty Havlat - James Sheppard - Tommy Wingels
Andrew Desjardins - Adam Burish - Tyler Kennedy
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Jason Demers
Matt Irwin - Justin Braun
Scott Hannan - Dan Boyle
Antti Niemi
Alex Stalock
Projected Ducks Lineup
Teemu Selanne - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Emerson Etem - Mathieu Perreault - Kyle Palmieri
Andrew Cogliano - Saku Koivu - Daniel Winnik
Patrick Maroon - Rickard Rakell - Tim Jackman
Francois Beauchemin - Stephane Robidas
Hampus Lindholm - Ben Lovejoy
Bryan Allen - Luca Sbisa