Requins-Habitants: Jeu Avant-Premiere

No I am not going to do the entire article on French. But both teams have a majority of their players from Canada, and a majority of them are of French descent, and the Sharks are being hosted by the storied Montreal Canadiens in their 100th season; seems reasonable to make my title (Sharks-Canadiens: Game Preview) French.

Plus it makes me look smart, unless of course I used the wrong form of preview, which is entirely possible given that my French lessons were over the course of several weeks about 25 years ago.

Now let’s get to it, starting by looking at miscellaneous factors in tonight’s game (4pm, PST).

Scheduling

The Sharks are playing their fourth game in six days two-three time zones from home. The Canadiens had to travel home after an overtime win against Philadelphia…slight advantage, Sharks.

Injuries

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the Canadiens are missing four players: forwards Alex Tanguay, Robert Lang, and Gillaume Latendresse, as well as defenceman Francis Bouillon. The Sharks are only missing centres Marcel Goc and Torrey Mitchell…advantage, Sharks.

Momentum

The Sharks are 8-3-4 since the All Star Break, a .667 point percentage. The Canadiens are 6-9-1 in the same stretch, a .406 clip. Montreal has won its last three by a combined score of 12-6, but the Sharks have won five of six…advantage, Sharks.

By the numbers

• San Jose has the league’s best record (I love that I get to say that every preview!) with a .775 point percentage. They are also nine games over .500 on the road, third best in the league. Montreal has a point percentage of .589, good for ninth in the league. At home, they are 13 games above .500, lower than only five other teams…slight advantage, Sharks.
• The Sharks have the third best offence in the league with a 3.33 GFA and the third best defence with a 2.35 GAA. Their goal differential of +0.98 is second only to Boston. Montreal has the ninth-best offence with a 2.97 GFA but only the 21st ranked defence with a 2.94 GAA. That gives them a goal differential of just +0.03, but it is still good enough for 12th in the league…advantage, Sharks.
• The Sharks still have the third best power play in the NHL at 24.3 percent and their penalty kill has dropped to fifth, with a 83.5 percent success rate. The Canadiens usually potent power play is just 18th in the league at 18.2 percent. This is one of the reasons they brought in Matthieu Schneider; on the other hand, trading away Begin for Janik will not help. Their penalty kill is their strength on special teams this season, ranking ninth with a success rate of 83.0 percent. To rate their special teams overall, I have added the power play and penalty kill percentages together: the Sharks rating of 107.8 is second best in the NHL, and the Canadiens 101.2 rating is 13th best…slight advantage, Sharks.

Intangibles

The Canadiens do need this game more, as they are trying to put some of their struggles behind them. The Sharks are a game and a half up on Boston for the best record in the league and two and a half over Detroit, and a loss will not put them in jeapordy.

But the Sharks are looking to turn around a tough month, in which they have gone 6-2-4 (.667). Prior to February, they have never had more than three regulation losses and five losses overall. Even by winning this game, February is the worst month for San Jose by about 30 percentage points.

Moreover, after the bad loss in Detroit and a five game road trip earlier in the month in which they got only one win, the Sharks have to be questioning their mettle. What better way to turn that around then by winning your third road game on this trip?

Aside from that, Montreal has issues. They have three players dealing with the distraction of being tied to organized crime. They have an alternate captain possibly on the trading block after being deactivated for two days because his effort was not there. The Sharks have no serious issues…advantage, Sharks.

Final result: Sharks 4, Canadiens 2

Posted by The Hockey Writers on Feb 28 2009. Filed under Eastern Conference, Montreal Canadiens, Northeast, Pacific, San Jose Sharks, Western Conference. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.