Holy Christ, am I scared for this game.
Clearly, Henke feels the same way I do about this game.
Yes, the Rangers have won the last two games on their California road trip, and yes, one of them was in regulation(holy crap!). But neither win was particularly spectacular, neither win really gives me any confidence that tonight is going to be anything less than horrible.
In case you live under a rock, the San Jose Sharks have been kicking ass and not bothering to take names all over the league for basically the entire season. They’re first in the league, first in the Western Conference, and boast a record of 25-4-3. That’s right, three months into the season, and they’ve lost only 7 times.
The Rangers, on the other hand, barely just squeaked out a win against the Los Angeles freakin’ Kings. Yes, the Rangers are second in the Eastern Conference, but that’s mostly due to a strong early start, and being several games ahead of everyone else. They haven’t been able to sustain much momentum, and it’s starting to show.
There are two ways this game can go down: either the Sharks are tired from traveling to Colombus, then to Detroit, then back to San Jose, and are feeling beaten down and dejected from losing their last two, including a blowout 6-0 loss to Detroit. If this is the case, hopefully the Rangers and capitalize on their misery and come away with 2 more points. The other way this can go is that the Sharks are comin’ back mad and looking to make a statement and spank someone on home ice to get their confidence back, in which case the Rangers are goin’ down in flames. Something tells me the second scenario is much more likely.
My guess is that the Rangers lines will be similar, if not the same as the last two games.
What’s for sure is that Lundqvist will be in goal for the Rangers, and probably Evgeni Nabakov will be in goal for San Jose. Also for sure: I will be drinking heavily during this game.
Numbers breakdown:
Sharks record: 25-4-3 – 7-1-2 in their last 10
Rangers record: 22-11-2 – 6-4-0 in their last 10
Average goals scored in a game:
Sharks: 3.44
Rangers: 2.46
Average goals allowed in a game:
Sharks: 2.44
Rangers: 2.57
Power Play
Sharks: 21.9%
Rangers: 14.9%
Penalty Kill:
Sharks: 85.8%
Rangers: 90.4%
