Game Preview: Canucks At Sharks
By KEVIN CHROUST
STATS Writer
The San Jose Sharks have spent much of December on home ice, and the success has been constant.
They'll try to complete a perfect home month Tuesday night against the Vancouver Canucks while matching their top single-season home winning streak in more than six years.
San Jose (19-12-5) is 7-0-0 at home this month and has won eight straight at the Shark Tank while scoring 3.88 goals per game. It's in a position to match a nine-game home winning streak that began the 2008-09 season and totaled 14 games with five wins from the end of the previous regular season.
The success hasn't traveled in the occasional December road games as the Sharks have gone 1-2-1 away from San Jose, including Saturday's 3-1 loss in Los Angeles.
The Sharks preceded it with a 3-2 overtime loss in Anaheim on Dec. 22, and the date with Vancouver (20-11-3) is their third in a four-game stretch against the top teams in the Pacific Division. They close 2014 with another trip to Anaheim on Wednesday.
"When the games are intense like this, you want to be at your best, and we weren't tonight," center Joe Pavelski said after the loss to the Kings. "We weren't very disciplined in a lot of areas. We gave up a lot of odd-man rushes and took a lot of penalties, things we haven't been doing lately when we were winning."
Pavelski has scored in consecutive games, though he's been limited to two goals in his last 15 against Vancouver.
The Canucks have been a strong road team this season, going 11-6-2, but they've dropped four straight (0-2-2) away from Vancouver after Sunday's 2-1 overtime loss in Anaheim.
They had a season-low 14 shots and have totaled 30 and two goals in their last two road games.
"Not good enough," Canucks coach Willie Desjardins told the team's official website. "If we want to win in this league, we've got to take the puck to the net. We can't rely on our goaltender. If we're just going to sit back, rely and hope we get points, we're not going to get points. As a group we know we have to get better."
If the offense doesn't come around, the penalty kill and strong goaltending could keep them close. The Canucks are 30 for 32 on the kill in 10 games this month and went 4 for 4 last week against the Ducks.
Ryan Miller made 29 saves and has a 1.64 goals-against average over a 2-0-1 stretch. He was similarly strong with 34 saves in a 3-2 win in San Jose on Nov. 6 to open the season series and give the Canucks a second straight road win over the Sharks.
Miller has won his last six starts against the Sharks with a 1.64 GAA and a pair of shutouts in his last four visits.
Antti Niemi, meanwhile, has been in goal for six of the Sharks' games on the home streak, but he suffered the loss last month to Vancouver after allowing three goals on 19 shots. He has been mediocre versus the Canucks with an 8-6-2 record and 2.67 GAA since joining the Sharks.
The San Jose penalty kill has also been strong lately with a 13-for-15 mark over seven games, but both goals came in Los Angeles the last time out.
Vancouver's power play is 4 for 11 in its last three games.
San Jose forward Patrick Marleau is in danger of going without a point in seven straight games for the first time since Nov. 28-Dec. 11, 2011.
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