Sharks vs. Oilers: Securing second place
The Sharks play a very meaningful (or whatever) hockey game against the surging (uh) Edmonton Oilers
Because the Winnipeg Jets aren't sure what holding a 4-0 lead looks like, the Sharks are all but locked in to a second place Pacific Division finish. The good news is they will have home-ice advantage when they play the Los Angeles Kings and (hopefully) the Chicago Blackhawks. The bad news is they will probably have to play the Kings sooner rather than later.
Sports Club Stats has the Ducks with a 94 percent chance of winning the pacific division and the Kings have all but locked down the third seed. So barring an amazing collapse by the Anaheim Ducks and a great run by the Sharks, the Kings will be their first round opponent. That's not a thing I am excited about, but if the Sharks are actually cup contenders they need to beat the other teams that are cup contenders. So let's get one of the toughest matchups out of the way early, right?
That all being said, the Sharks actually have to play the Oilers, still. It's a game that could not matter less if it tried. The Oilers are in the running for the first overall pick yet again and the Sharks can't do much to improve/hurt their playoff chances at this point. San Jose has had a bad habit of starting games slowly the past week and a half, and it'd be nice to see them, uh, not do that.
I have a way with words.
 | @ |  |
| 26-40-9, 61 points | 47-20-9, 103 points | |
| 6th in Pacific | 2nd in Pacific |
7:30 PM PST | SAP Center | San Jose, CA
TV: CSNCA-HD | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: Copper And Blue
Projected Sharks Lineup
Joe Pavelski - Joe Thornton - Brent Burns
Patrick Marleau - Logan Couture - Matt Nieto
Marty Havlat - James Sheppard - Tommy Wingels
Mike Brown - Andrew Desjardins - Tyler Kennedy
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Jason Demers
Brad Stuart - Justin Braun
Matt Irwin - Dan Boyle
Antti Niemi
Alex Stalock
Projected Oilers Lineup
Taylor Hall - Sam Gagner - David Perron
Anton Lander - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Jordan Eberle
Matt Hendricks - Boyd Gordon - Tyler Pitlick
Will Acton - Ryan Smyth - Mark Fraser
Oscar Klefborn - Justin Schultz
Andrew Ference - Jeff Petry
Martin Marincin - Anton Belov