northernlou
Idi Admin
Preview: Montreal at San Jose
10:30 PM ET, Monday, February 29, 2016
SAP Center at San Jose, San Jose, California
The San Jose Sharks have a comfortable hold on third place in the Pacific Division but continue in their attempt to climb higher when they take a break from their cluster of contests against a division rival to host the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. San Jose halted a two-game skid Sunday at Vancouver, rallying for four goals in the third period to post a 4-1 triumph and improve to 6-2-2 in its last 10 contests.
Joe Thornton has been a model of offensive consistency, recording at least one point in 28 of his last 32 games and not going more than one contest without landing on the scoresheet since Dec. 9 and 12. While the Sharks hope to pass Anaheim and catch first-place Los Angeles in the Pacific, the Canadiens are clinging to their hopes of qualifying for the postseason as they sit five points behind Pittsburgh for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with four teams between them. Montreal, which is beginning a four-game road trip, believes in its chances thanks to a point streak that reached four games (3-0-1) with Saturday's 4-1 victory over Toronto. San Jose aims to complete a sweep of the two-game season series after posting a 3-1 win at Bell Centre on Dec. 15.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet East, RDS (Montreal), CSN California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (30-27-5): Phillip Danault made his debut for Montreal on Saturday and recorded one shot and a minus-1 rating after being acquired from Chicago a day earlier. Michael McCarron, who was recalled from St. John's of the American Hockey League after Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise were traded to the Blackhawks, notched an assist versus Toronto for his first NHL point. Alex Galchenyuk has scored three goals in his last two contests following a four-game drought and is three away from matching his career high of 20 set last season.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (33-22-6): San Jose was without newcomers Jeremy Morin and goaltender James Reimer, who were acquired from Toronto on Saturday for Alex Stalock and Ben Smith. Aaron Dell was recalled from the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League to serve as Martin Jones' backup Sunday. Nick Spaling has recorded one goal and defenseman Roman Polak has gone without a point in three games since the two were obtained from the Maple Leafs on Feb. 22.
OVERTIME
1. The Sharks return to play in Vancouver for the second time in three games Thursday before hosting the Canucks two days later.
2. Montreal captain Max Pacioretty leads the team with 23 tallies after recording his third two-goal performance of the season Saturday and first since Oct. 13 at Pittsburgh.
3. San Jose captain Joe Pavelski tops the club with 27 goals but has scored only two over his last 13 contests.
Trends
Canadiens are 0-8 in the last 8 meetings in San Jose.
Canadiens are 3-12 in their last 15 vs. a team with a winning record.
Sharks are 1-5 in their last 6 games playing on 0 days rest.
http://www.covers.com/pageLoader/pageLoader.aspx?page=/data/nhl/matchups/g2_preview_10.html
10:30 PM ET, Monday, February 29, 2016
SAP Center at San Jose, San Jose, California
The San Jose Sharks have a comfortable hold on third place in the Pacific Division but continue in their attempt to climb higher when they take a break from their cluster of contests against a division rival to host the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. San Jose halted a two-game skid Sunday at Vancouver, rallying for four goals in the third period to post a 4-1 triumph and improve to 6-2-2 in its last 10 contests.
Joe Thornton has been a model of offensive consistency, recording at least one point in 28 of his last 32 games and not going more than one contest without landing on the scoresheet since Dec. 9 and 12. While the Sharks hope to pass Anaheim and catch first-place Los Angeles in the Pacific, the Canadiens are clinging to their hopes of qualifying for the postseason as they sit five points behind Pittsburgh for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with four teams between them. Montreal, which is beginning a four-game road trip, believes in its chances thanks to a point streak that reached four games (3-0-1) with Saturday's 4-1 victory over Toronto. San Jose aims to complete a sweep of the two-game season series after posting a 3-1 win at Bell Centre on Dec. 15.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet East, RDS (Montreal), CSN California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (30-27-5): Phillip Danault made his debut for Montreal on Saturday and recorded one shot and a minus-1 rating after being acquired from Chicago a day earlier. Michael McCarron, who was recalled from St. John's of the American Hockey League after Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise were traded to the Blackhawks, notched an assist versus Toronto for his first NHL point. Alex Galchenyuk has scored three goals in his last two contests following a four-game drought and is three away from matching his career high of 20 set last season.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (33-22-6): San Jose was without newcomers Jeremy Morin and goaltender James Reimer, who were acquired from Toronto on Saturday for Alex Stalock and Ben Smith. Aaron Dell was recalled from the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League to serve as Martin Jones' backup Sunday. Nick Spaling has recorded one goal and defenseman Roman Polak has gone without a point in three games since the two were obtained from the Maple Leafs on Feb. 22.
OVERTIME
1. The Sharks return to play in Vancouver for the second time in three games Thursday before hosting the Canucks two days later.
2. Montreal captain Max Pacioretty leads the team with 23 tallies after recording his third two-goal performance of the season Saturday and first since Oct. 13 at Pittsburgh.
3. San Jose captain Joe Pavelski tops the club with 27 goals but has scored only two over his last 13 contests.
Trends
Canadiens are 0-8 in the last 8 meetings in San Jose.
Canadiens are 3-12 in their last 15 vs. a team with a winning record.
Sharks are 1-5 in their last 6 games playing on 0 days rest.
http://www.covers.com/pageLoader/pageLoader.aspx?page=/data/nhl/matchups/g2_preview_10.html
