Sharks Gameday: No More Thrown Sticks

St. Louis Blues (17-18-6) at San Jose Sharks (27-9-7), 7:30 PM PST

The last time the Sharks got super-mega blown out similar to the 6-2 thumping by the LA Rudys, it was against Chicago and I was in the building. Fortunately, I was NOT at the LA game (though some of my friends were, including one poor guy who got a JAY LEACH autographed puck in the Mystery Puck fundraiser. Yes, they had Jay Leach sign some of those.), and that disproves the theory that my presence near HP Pavilion causes catastrophe. That's point one.

Point two is that the St. Louis Blues are coming into town tonight, and you might have heard that they recently gave Andy Murray the boot. For whatever reason, the Blues can't win at home but they can win on the road (isn't that usually the sign of a coach doing at least one thing right?), so they shouldn't be taken lightly as the Blues come marching in to the Shark Tank. Actually, if you look at the Blues' goaltending numbers, they're not bad. Well, the goals-against isn't great (average 2.68), but a .915 save percentage isn't too bad, and both Chris Mason and Ty Conklin are sporting roughly .500 records.

So then what's the problem with the Blues? These dudes can't score -- their top scorer (former Shark Brad Boyes) has barely half as many points as Joe Thornton. That's not good. Their top goal-scorer has less than half as many as Patrick Marleau. That's not good either. They've still got Andy MacDonald (who is probably singing a Broadway tune about missing Teemu Selanne), Keith Tkachuk (who is probably pouting about not being on Team USA), and Paul Kariya (I think Ducks fans might remember this guy), who are all horribly underachieving.

The goal for tonight, then, is to pepper a ridiculous amount of shots on Mason/Conklin while keeping the would-be St. Louis scorers to the outside while watching Barret Jackman scowl. If they stick with that game plan while minimizing any sort of colossal brain cramps (Patty, try not to chuck your stick like a spear tonight, ok? And Joe, keep that raging temper in check, cool?), it should be a by-the-books win tonight.

The last game broke the eight-game winning streak. Time to shake off the bad mojo and start another one.

And in honor of fallen Blues coach (and ex Kings head honcho) Andy Murray, here is a fantastic rant from Andy Murray lookalike Gary Busey.

(Seriously, they look like each other. Here's Murray and here's Busey.)




The Blue I'd Like On My Team: TJ Oshie, because Don Draper likes him.

Prediction: Sharks 5, Blues 2. Goals by Marleau, Setoguchi, Clowe, Boyle, and Mitchell. And no penalties for thrown sticks.