San Jose Sharks take on the Anaheim Ducks live on Monday night in NHL action at 10:00 PM ET.
The San Jose Sharks have been the most impressive team in the NHL over the early stretch of the lockout-shortened season and they will look to continue that on Monday night against the Anaheim Ducks.
The Sharks have yet to lose in regulation this year and are 7-0-1 heading into the road matchup against their in-state rivals. The Sharks became juy7st the third team in NHL history to win their first five games by at least two goals, proving they are one of the best offensive teams in the NHL.
The last three games have been tighter, all being decided in shootouts. San Jose defeated Anaheim (5-1-1) and Edmonton this week, but lost its first game (in a shootout) 2-1 at home to Nashville on Saturday.
"These are the type of games we're going to be involved in from now until the end of the year," San Jose coach Todd McLellan said. "It can be a little frustrating that it's not a Picasso, but it's real."
Due to the early success, the Sharks are the highest-scoring team in the NHL and are leading the league with 28 goals, although all they could muster against the Predators on Saturday was Martin Havlat's game-tying score in the third period. The one place they have been weak lately is on the power play, but Havlat's goal gave the team its first special teams score in 12 chances after starting the season at nearly 40 percent over the first five games.
"When you look at point production, and that's the be-all, end-all, we have to be somewhat pleased with where we are at," McLellan said. "When we look at our game, we really like some parts and there's other parts we have to work on."
Overall, the Sharks have been excellent on special teams, killing 21 straight penalties and ranking seventh in the NHL with an 85 percent penalty kill. The team stopped all four chances against the Ducks in the win on Tuesday and will try to do the same against Anaheim on Monday night.
"It might not happen on any other night, but (Tuesday) I thought we outplayed them," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I can't say anything negative. We outworked them. It's disappointing because we played so hard."
The Ducks have been nearly as impressive against the Sharks, with the San Jose loss on Tuesday being its only defeat in the past four game. The Ducks have a chance at revenge on Monday night and are looking for their sixth win in eight home games against San Jose.
Anaheim has had trouble keeping leads lately, including in Saturday's 7-4 win when they lost the lead three different times against Los Angeles. The team was bailed out by center Nick Bonino first career hat trick.
"Resiliency. I think that's kind of been one of our mottos," Bonino told the Ducks' official website. "If they strike, we strike right back. We were never down on the bench, we were never down in the locker room. We were always confident and just came out and played hard."
The Sharks have been excellent on offense, but the defense has been even better, allowing just 1.6 goals per game, ranked first in the NHL. Patrick Marleau is leading the team with 14 points and nine goals, while Joe Thornton has 11 assists.
The Ducks are ranked third in goals per game this season, but are only 20th in goals against. The power play has been a strength for the Ducks, who are converting 33 percent, but the kill has been tough, as they are ranked 29th in the league with a 65.4 penalty kill percentage. Teemu Selanne is in his 40's but he is still good enough to lead the team in scoring, recording nine points so far this season.
The Sharks and Ducks are the top two teams in the Pacific division over Phoenix and Dallas. The Stanley Cup champion LA Kings are currently in last place with just six points.
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