@ 6:30 PST
26-14-5, 57 points		17-26-4, 38 points
3rd in Western Conference		14th in Western Conference

Matt Taylor coming to you from the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tough loss for the 49’ers last night (or an hour ago, because I’m using this gameday to get over the pain of a gut-wrenching loss that shouldn’t have happened), but we move on. Feel terrible for Kyle Williams (especially the way he’s being treated on twitter), but the 49’ers also had chance after chance to put it away and the offense couldn’t get it done. Can’t put this one on him entirely.

But hey, this is a hockey blog, right? So let’s talk about hockey.

Goddammit, that’s not any better. Sharks coming off a loss to the hated Vancouver Canucks, giving up the game winning goal just seconds after they tied the game with a few minutes left. Saturday and Sunday were not great days for Bay Area sports fans.

Hard to step off the ledge right now (don’t worry, I’m sitting on my couch in reality), but the Sharks have a great chance to heal the wounds of the weekend with a win in Edmonton tonight. On an 0-2 stretch where they allowed four goals in both losses, San Jose needs a big game to get themselves back on track.

Playing Edmonton gives them that opportunity, as they’re one of the worst teams in the NHL this season… again. While the Oilers have some great young talents in Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle, all of them are dealing with some sort of injury trouble this year. Taylor Hall is just coming back from a scary, but thankfully not so severe, skate cut to the face that he suffered during warmups a few days ago. The slice resulted in 30 stitches on his left forehead, and it doesn’t look too pretty. Still, in an impressive showing of heart, he suited up for Edmonton’s 6-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Sunday. Like him or not, that’s a huge show of guts. What a player.

Jordan Eberle is back in action after missing games with an apparent knee injury, but is having an all-star season with 44 points in 43 games. The third player, number one overall pick Nugent-Hopkins, hasn’t played since January 2nd with a shoulder injury.

That was a long, run-on about three Oilers players, one of which won’t even be playing. Unfortunately, especially for Edmontonians, those have been the only three players worth talking about. Ales Hemsky, who has been the focus of recent trade rumors, hasn’t performed as expected… well, I guess it’s expected that he was going to get injured at some point, and he was, so that counts. 34 games for Hemsky this year, and just 17 points. Not exactly the swan song that fans wanted to see from the skilled winger.

Injuries have been one problem for the Oilers, but the defense might be just as worrisome. They’re 22nd in goals allowed despite some decent netminding by Nikolai Khabibulin, and look to be spiraling out of control. Guessing that their next high pick will be spent on a defenseman. Just a hunch.

Moral of the story, the Sharks should have little trouble with Edmonton tonight. Still, San Jose has had issues with playing down to their competition in recent years, and this game could end up a trap game for the Sharks, especially with all of their injuries. It’s an important two points.

Prediction: Sharks win 5-2 with Greiss in net. Goals by McGinn (2x), Couture, Burns and Demers, who scores when a puck bounces off his hair in the press box.