After dropping their first game of the young, short National Hockey League season on Saturday night at home, the San Jose Sharks look to rebound tonight on the road against the Anaheim Ducks.
The Sharks lost at HP Pavilion to the Nashville Predators in the overtime shootout, but they have already beaten the Ducks this year -- last week at home. And none of that matters, as each game is a new adventure and challenge in a season like this one.
San Jose leads the Pacific Division currently with 15 points in eight games -- they picked up a single point in the loss to the Predators simply by reaching the overtime period.
Anaheim isn't far behind, with 11 points in seven games, so if the Ducks win tonight, the hot start for the Sharks will seem like a distant memory.
And that's pretty frightening.
San Jose (7-0-1) and Anaheim (5-1-1) currently stand second and fourth in the Western Conference, so this game takes on added meaning beyond the mere division standings.
Thomas Greiss gets the start tonight for the Sharks, putting his personal perfection on the line: his only start this year was a shutout win against the Colorado Avalanche last weekend.
After the hot start on offense, where the Sharks scored 23 goals in their first five games, the team has slowed down a bit -- San Jose has scored only five goals in regulation over their last three games, all of which were decided by shootout.
The Sharks will have to re-discover their scoring mojo tonight against the Ducks on the road, where Anaheim starts 30-year old rookie Viktor Fasth: he is 2-0-0 on the season with a 1.44 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage.
Game time is 7:00 p.m. this evening.
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