San Jose Preview

By: Jeff Little • December 4th, 2008

The Jackets foray into the depths of Silicon Valley to tangle with the Sharks, who have been other-worldly so far this season, particularly at home. 21-3 -1 overall, 13-0-1 at home. The lone blemish being an OTL to Nashville. So, why should we not just abandon all hope and fly directly to L.A.? Several reasons:

  • The CBJ are a much better team now than during the first visit.
  • SJ has not seen Mason before, and he is on a roll.
  • We have shown we can hold big scorers down-i.e. Kovalchuk, Ovechkin
  • While PP is not clicking, at least we shouldn’t give up 2 shorties like last time
  • Law of averages says SJ has to lose a home game sometime
  • Goats!!!

Watch for Novotny to play a significant part in tonight’s game. After being a healthy scratch, and possibly serving as trade bait, he will have something to prove. I would not be surprised to see an in-game promotion for him.

We need to come out of the gate hard, and get an early goal or two on Nabokov, who actually has a Save % slightly under 90. However, the SJ defense is not allowing a lot of shots, so his GAA is only 2.54. Our goal is therefore to keep possession, move the puck and get some rubber on net. Stay out of the box, and be strong in the neutral zone and at our blue line. Disrupt their flow, support down low and hard forechecking will win the day.

A tough task, but we have shown we can play with anybody. Grab your Mountain Dew or other caffeine source and watch the game into the early AM hours. Go Jackets!!!

About

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A native of the SF Bay Area, my first exposure to hockey was the SF/Oakland/California Golden Seals, including Charlie Finley and the white skates. Fast forward to the late 1980's when Gretzky and the Kings came up to the Bay Area for an exhibition game at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, for which we had glass seats. I was at the first San Jose Sharks game in the Cow Palace, and followed them for their first few pathetic years, before moving to Columbus in 1994. I attended the first pro-NHL rally downtown, and have been a season ticket holder since Day 1, wife & I are active in the Jacket Backers, and son is an avid fan as well. I cover the Jackets for Inside Hockey, and contribute regularly to a variety of hockey sites. I maintain contact with the Jackets organization, and like to dig into stories, bringing a fresh, and sometimes irreverent perspective to hockey.

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