San Jose Sharks at Detroit Red Wings

Much has been made about the upcoming Sharks/Red Wings rematch, almost to the point of overkill (I contributed to that; check out Puck Daddy today for a little Q&A from me on the game).To summarize, yes, the Red Wings are still the measuring stick; yes, the teams still play similar styles; yes, Joe Pavelski and Jonathan Cheechoo are still in the "maybe" category; yes, Evgeni Nabokov will play back-to-back (according to the plan). I'll leave it to Mercury News beat blogger David Pollak to provide any roster updates, but I think that at this point, every game becomes a critical game for the Sharks because they're all a test to see how they'll respond to adversity -- even if that adversity is the fear of complacency.

In the meantime, here's something to prepare you for the game: an update to the MVPP tracker. This kind of got lost during the Great BoC Move of 2008, but never fear, your latest MVPP news is here.

Remember, goals count for two points, assists count for one point, and we're only counting whoever scores the fourth goal at a home game as that's the one that triggers a free pizza.

Devin Setoguchi 8 (2, 4)
Joe Thornton 5 (2,1)
Ryane Clowe 5 (2, 1)
Patrick Marleau 3 (1, 2)
Milan Michalek 3 (1,1)
Marc-Edouard Vlasic 3 (1,1)
Joe Pavelski 3 (1, 1)
Dan Boyle 3 (0, 3)
Rob Blake 1 (0, 1)
Mike Grier 1 (0, 1)
Brad Lukowich 1 (0, 1)
Jamie McGinn 1 (0, 1)
Jeremy Roenick 1 (0, 1)
Lukas Kaspar 1 (0,1)

10/9 4-1 over Anaheim (Setoguchi from Marleau/Blake)
10/14 5-2 over Columbus (Marleau from Grier)
10/18 Philadelphia 5-4 (Setoguchi from Roenick/Boyle)
10/30 Detroit 4-2 (Pavelski from Setoguchi/McGinn)
11/6 St. Louis 5-4 Shootout (Clowe from Lukowich/Setoguchi)
11/13 Calgary 6-1 (Thornton from Setoguchi/Boyle)
11/22 Washington 7-2 (Thornton from Vlasic/Boyle)
11/28 Dallas 6-2 (Michalek from Clowe/Pavelski)
12/2 Toronto 5-2 (Vlasic from Thornton/Setoguchi)
12/13 St. Louis 5-4 (Clowe from Kaspar/Michalek)