Anaheim Ducks look to continue success at home against Sharks

The Anaheim Ducks look to keep the momentum going and will search for their third straight victory against the visiting San Jose Sharks at Honda Center.

The Anaheim Ducks most recent 3-2 victory against the Edmonton Oilers this past Friday marked the Ducks’ first home game against the Oilers since the miracle known as the “Comeback on Katella” on May 5th, 2017.

The Ducks defensive effort was excellent against the Oilers. Everyone chipped in to swat away rebounds and got into passing and shooting lanes to prevent pucks from reaching the net. The always dangerous Connor McDavid was contained, only posting one assist whereas he had notched multi-point efforts in his previous three outings.

The Ducks will look to continue that same defensive effort against the Sharks, especially after they were embarrassed 6-2 by them at home back on January 21st.

Some Key Notes:

• Ducks right wing Corey Perry is a riding a four-game point streak into tonight’s game (three goals, four assists).
• The Anaheim Ducks have won seven of their past nine home games, dating back to Dec 29 against Calgary.
• Sharks captain Joe Pavelski is starting to get hot with four goals and three assists in his past five games.
• Defenseman Brent Burns leads the NHL with 233 shots on goal through 55 games.
• The Sharks enter into today’s game with superb special teams, ranked fourth on the power play (PP) at 23.9% and tied for first in penalty killing (PK) at 84.6%. Meanwhile, the Ducks are middle of the road on special teams (PP 22nd – 18.1%, PK 16th – 81.1%)
• The Sharks lead the season series, two games to one. This is the final regular season matchup between these teams.

The Game – Sharks (29-18-8, 66 pts.) vs. Ducks (27-19-10, 64 pts.)

Fresh off a win against the Oilers, the Anaheim Ducks look to make up some ground in the playoff picture. The Sharks are one of those teams they are trying to catch and surpass in the Pacific Division. With Friday’s victory behind them, the Ducks will look to take advantage of a hopefully tired Sharks team that defeated the same Oilers 6-4 yesterday. A victory will not be easy though.

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The Ducks will need to keep a close eye on Brent Burns, who has been heating up after a slow start to the season. Burns’ unique ability to create space and get shots on net will certainly cause havoc if the Ducks are unable to stay in front of him. I am looking for the Ducks’ top defense pairing of Josh Manson and Hampus Lindholm to be on the ice whenever Burns is on.

In addition, the Ducks will need to make sure they play disciplined hockey.. It will be of prime importance for the Ducks to not take penalties. The Sharks are excellent when it comes to special teams.

Thus, the Ducks must work hard to capitalize on the power play chances when they get them and defend extremely well when they do take a penalty.  Gibson must be outstanding.

Offensively, the Ducks will need to take advantage of a struggling Martin Jones. Look for the Ducks to shoot quick and often in this one. Jones (15-14-5, 2.64 GAA, .912) has not had a great season by last year’s standards. His backup, Aaron Dell, has outplayed him for the last month and a half and Jones has ceded several starts to him.

Projected Lineups – Ducks

Forwards

Rickard Rakell – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry

Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg

Nick Ritchie – Adam Henrique – Ondrej Kase

Chris Wagner  – Antoine Vermette – J.T. Brown

Defensemen

Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson

Cam Fowler – Kevin Bieksa

Francois Beauchemin – Brandon Montour

Goalies

John Gibson

Ryan Miller

Projected Lineups – Sharks

Forwards

Tomas Hertl – Logan Couture – Kevin Labanc

Timo Meier – Joe Pavelski – Joonas Donskoi

Mikkel Boedker – Chris Tierney – Melker Karlsson

Barclay Goodrow – Daniel O’Regan – Jannik Hansen

Defensemen

Joakim Ryan – Brent Burns

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun

Brenden Dillon – Dylan DeMelo

Goalies

Martin Jones

Aaron Dell

Next: Ducks Roundtable: Top-three in the Pacific?

My Prediction: The Ducks will have too much firepower for a tired Sharks team to handle. The Ducks’ first line will continue to produce and create constant havoc and chaos for Martin Jones to deal with. Ducks will win a close one, 4 – 2.