Game Preview: Flyers At Sharks
After snapping a four-game skid with their top scoring night of the season, the San Jose Sharks can salvage a reasonable homestand with a vulnerable opponent coming to town.
The Philadelphia Flyers visit Tuesday night riding their own four-game losing streak amid mounting struggles on the road.
San Jose (11-10-4) had 14 goals over a 2-5-2 stretch before Saturday's 6-4 win over Anaheim. The Sharks had gone 0-1-2 to begin a six-game homestand, but Logan Couture provided a jolt with two goals after an illness had him in the hospital that morning.
"We needed it," said Couture, who has three goals in his last two games against the Flyers. "We haven't been scoring many goals so it was good to find some way to score - short-handed, power play, even strength. A couple minutes it got away from us in the third, but overall a pretty good game."
Joe Thornton kept pace with Couture atop the team's points lead (21) with an assist and has 17 on a 12-game point streak against Philadelphia.
Couture's 10 goals are also tied for the team lead, and he's managed five points in his last five games after going five straight without finding the scoresheet.
"I thought he had a hell of a game," coach Todd McLellan said. "Probably his best game of the season, in my opinion. He was all over the puck, he played well defensively, looked really good."
Flyers coach Craig Berube hasn't been able to issue such praise lately. Philadelphia (8-12-3) suffered a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers to begin a five-game road trip in discouraging fashion. On top of the overall skid, the Flyers are in danger of their first eight-game road losing streak since March 3-29, 1988.
"It's mental," Berube said. "Every guy has to man up and do their job. My job is to get these guys going in the right direction."
They've now been outscored 13-4 on the four-game skid and closed November with a 1-7-1 stretch, and the players have made it clear that blame should be directed at them rather than Berube.
"It's on us," said Wayne Simmonds, who has three goals in 19 games after opening the season with five in his first four. "This has nothing to do with the coach, nothing to do with systems."
One of the main issues has been a penalty kill that has a 65.7 percent success rate over the last nine games. A lot of that damage has been sustained on the road, where the Flyers have a 62.2 percent season mark. The Sharks' power play is among the best in the league at 23.8 percent.
The loss to the Rangers was Ray Emery's fourth in as many starts and he has a 4.35 goals-against average in that span, so Steve Mason could be in net against the Sharks.
While Mason has dropped his last three starts, he's given Philadelphia more of a chance with a 2.30 GAA. He's won three of his last four versus San Jose and was in goal for the Flyers' split with the Sharks a season ago. That 5-2 result in San Jose on Feb. 3 stands as Philadelphia's only win over the last 15 games in the series.
The Flyers' limited goal scoring of late could benefit Antti Niemi, who hasn't been at his best at home this season with a 2-3-2 record and 2.67 GAA. With San Jose, he's 1-1-0 with a 2.32 GAA against the Flyers.
More Sharks Stories
