GDT: Blues v Sharks 7 PM FSMW(HD), KMOX

[dmiles2186]

San Jose Sharks vs. St. Louis Blues
NHL.com

SAN JOSE (5-4-1) at ST. LOUIS (6-1-2)

TV -- CSN-CA (HD), FS-MW (HD)

Season series -- This will be the first of four meetings between San Jose and St. Louis. The Sharks took the 2009-10 series with a 3-0-1 record.

Big Story -- The upstart Blues seek to overcome a recent injury bug that has bitten defensemen Carlo Colaiacovo (concussion) and Roman Polak (wrist surgery). St. Louis also seeks to improve upon its NHL-best 5-0-0 home record. The Sharks have been playing well lately, winning two of their last three games. The recently reunited line of Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau had tallied a combined 20 points in two previous games before Tuesday's shutout loss to the Minnesota Wild.

Team Scope:

Sharks -- Prior to Tuesday's 1-0 loss at Minnesota, San Jose was starting to get things going offensively. Over their last six games, they had outscored opponents 20-12, while compiling a 4-2-0 record.

While San Jose entered Tuesday's game leading the NHL with a 31.6-percent success rate on the power play, it was stopped by Minnesota on all five opportunities with the man-advantage.

"That's the one area where I was disappointed," Sharks coach Todd McLellan said after the game. "It looked like we had a lot of hoping instead of knowing. We were just a bit off."

Blues -- When a team is able to get at least one point in eight of its first nine games of the season, then there is a lot to be optimistic about. The Blues have done exactly that this season on the strength of superb goaltending by early Vezina Trophy favorite Jaroslav Halak and a balanced scoring attack currently led by T.J. Oshie (team-best 9 points), Matt D'Agostini (6 points) and David Perron (6 points).

The Blues' 6-1-2 record in October was their third-best start in franchise history, while their current 11-game winning streak at home (dating to last season) is the longest in team history. In fact, things have been going so well for St. Louis that it was able to get two goals in less than two minutes from the usually defensive-minded center Jay McClement to overcome a 3-1 deficit at Atlanta on Saturday and take the game, 4-3 in a shootout.

"Just happened to be in the right place at the right time a lot," McClement said following the game. "Feels good to contribute offensively for a change."

Who's Hot -- For the Sharks, forward Dany Heatley has made the score sheet in four of his last six games, totaling 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) over that span. ... Halak is the hottest goaltender in the Western Conference, as he hasn't lost in regulation since Oct. 14 and entered Wednesday's games leading all Western Conference starting goalies with a 1.71 goals-against average and two shutouts.

Injury Report -- Defenseman Derek Joslin (surgically repaired thumb) hasn't played all season for the Sharks. ... Besides the injuries to Colaiacovo and Polak, the Blues should be healthy. Erik Johnson was banged up in practice Wednesday, but should be fine for Thursday's game.

Stat Pack -- Despite the poor showing Tuesday, San Jose remains at the top of the list for power-play success, at 28.6 percent.

Puck Drop -- The Blues have surprised a lot of hockey experts with their hot start, but if you asked them, it's all due to remaining focused. And it was that type of focus that allowed Halak to keep his team in the game against Atlanta last week.

"I didn't worry about what happened in the first period," Halak said. "I just came out, I just tried to go puck by puck. I was trying to keep us going the same way the whole game."

[thedoc]

We are rested and they are not. I think we have a great shot at the Sharks for the first time in a while.

Blue 3

Sharks 1

[fargoblues]

Blue 3
Teal 2 F/OT

[ohio BLUES]

The Sharks are mental midgets. The Blues are Jedis.

Niemi says, "You can go about your business." Of scoring several goals against me, that is.

Blues 4
Sharks 2

[TheoSqua]

yay i'm going to this game.

[dmiles2186]

Did I hear correctly that Stone Hands Mayers is a Shark now?

[stinkdified]

I hate to say this and i hope i'm wrong, but the blues have won the last 4...so we will probably lose this game.
Hopefully its just the mind conditioning that the blues have put me through for the last five seasons, but i have come to expect, winning streaks and the blues do not mix very well.
Once again, i hope i am severly mistaken.

[gaijin]

I hate to say this and i hope i'm wrong, but the blues have won the last 4...so we will probably lose this game.
Hopefully its just the mind conditioning that the blues have put me through for the last five seasons, but i have come to expect, winning streaks and the blues do not mix very well.
Once again, i hope i am severly mistaken.

They don't last forever, that's for sure. I thought it was over against Atlanta, but that one turned out well. Lucky comeback win, or the new norm?

LGB!

[KPFBlue]

Odd scheduling kills momentum:

Blues 1
Sharks 2

Halak with over 30 saves.

[glen a richter]

Sharks 3
Blues 1

[SIU LAW]

I think the loss of Polak is going to be even more apparent tonight...

[glen a richter]

I think the loss of Polak is really going to burn this team for quite a while. I hope that when Nikitin gets healthy, he can step into the role, but honestly what does he even know about playing at the NHL level? Is he even the same style player? And it doesn't seem like they're ready to bring up Cole.

All I know is that I have serious reservations about The Oyster. If he was that good, he'd still be a Duck when they have a weak sauce defense to begin with.

[OS]

Sharks 2
Blues 1

[glen a richter]

holy crap it's an OS sighting! Where you been, Chris?

[cprice12]

Sharks 2
Blues 1

Bullshit.

Blues 3
Sharks 2

[glen a richter]

You have to admit that the loss of Polak and Cola hurt the defense a lot. Atlanta should have been a pushover and San Jose has a very dynamic offensive line that can expose cracks in the D.

If the D was healthy, I'd say Blues win, but that not being the case, I say Blues lose.

[JPonder94]

Blues 3
Sharks 2

Close game-- Perron will be ON FIRE.

It is sadly my girl's berfday, so I will not be watching this live. She wants to see a movie... or something dumb like that. She wouldn't bite on going to the game tonight.

[glen a richter]

Blues 3
Sharks 2

Close game-- Perron will be ON FIRE.

It is sadly my girl's berfday, so I will not be watching this live. She wants to see a movie... or something dumb like that. She wouldn't bite on going to the game tonight.

Lame. What movie?

[JPonder94]

Blues 3
Sharks 2

Close game-- Perron will be ON FIRE.

It is sadly my girl's berfday, so I will not be watching this live. She wants to see a movie... or something dumb like that. She wouldn't bite on going to the game tonight.

Lame. What movie?

Probably the new Zach Galafinakis (sp?) and Robert Downey Jr. movie. That should be funny, but not as funny as Antti Niemi watching pucks go behind him all night.

[glen a richter]

Blues 3
Sharks 2

Close game-- Perron will be ON FIRE.

It is sadly my girl's berfday, so I will not be watching this live. She wants to see a movie... or something dumb like that. She wouldn't bite on going to the game tonight.

Lame. What movie?

Probably the new Zach Galafinakis (sp?) and Robert Downey Jr. movie. That should be funny, but not as funny as Antti Niemi watching pucks go behind him all night.

I should talk about lame, I probably won't make a second of flashchat tonight. The wife is working evenings now, so we're on opposite shifts and when she gets home, thats it for my computer usage for the day.