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Preview: The slumping San Jose Sharks swim their way into town

Shuld of kept Jones.

By Dan.Ryan
San Jose Sharks v Boston Bruins Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images

Just the facts

When: Tonight, 7 PM

Where: TD Garden - Boston, MA

How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Rival SBN site: Fear the Fin

Know your enemy

  • Evander Kane leads the Sharks with 7 goals.
  • Brent Burns leads the Sharks with 10 assists.
  • Burns leads the Sharks with 12 points.
  • Martin Jones has a record of 2-5-1, a GAA of 3.39, and a save percentage of .892.

Game notes

  • Things aren’t going very well for the San Jose Sharks right now. After coming within 2 wins of making it to the Stanley Cup Final last season, the Sharks are just 4-7-1 and are a point out of last place in the Western Conference.
  • What’s the problem? Our pals at Fear the Fin cite the lack of a four-line game, but, uh...it seems like goaltending is more of the problem. Both of San Jose’s goalies have GAA’s hovering around 3.5 and save percentages around 89%.
  • Jones has been terrible to star the year, and was pretty terrible to finish last season. There was a vocal contingent of fans who truly believed that the Bruins should have kept Jones and traded Tuukka Rask a few years back, a take that is truly bad.
  • The Sharks have lost two in a row, being outscored by a total of 9-3 in losses to the Leafs and Senators. That loss to a Senators team that is expected to be among the league’s worst this season was by a 5-2 score.
  • Aaron Dell started in Ottawa on Sunday, with Jones coming on in relief. It’s reasonable to assume that Jones will start tonight.
  • For the Bruins, things are going pretty well. One wrinkle: Par Lindholm may not be available tonight, as he left Sunday’s win with some kind of upper-body injury. If he can’t go, the Bruins may end up needing a body from Providence if David Krejci isn’t ready.
  • However, if there wasn’t a setback over the weekend, Krejci should play tonight. That will necessitate some line shuffling, so expect every line but the first line to be put in a blender again.
  • David Pastrnak might not top his five-point night from Sunday night, but if he did, would we really be surprised at this point?

See ya tonight!