Canucks At Sharks Game 3 Preview: Face The Thing That Should Not Be

CANUCKS		WHINERS
	AT

Time	Fri. 6:00 PM PST	TV	CBC, Versus, RDS
Series	2-0 Canucks	Last Meeting	7-3 Canucks
The Enemy	Fear The Fin, Battle Of California	Scoring Leaders	Kesler: 5-11-16 Thornton: 3-11-14

Canucks	Category	Sharks
Won 3	Streak	Lost 2
4-2	< Road Record / Home Record >	4-3
+2	Goals For / Against +/-	-5
2.67 (9)	Goals Per Game	2.87 (7)
2.53 (4)	Goals Against Per Game	3.20 (12)
1.04 (7)	5 On 5 GF/GA	0.91 (10)
25.5 (4)	Power Play %	18.5 (10)
81.1 (7)	Penalty Kill %	79.4 (10)
32.3 (7)	Shots Per Game	35.7 (3)
29.3 (3)	Shots Against Per Game	32.8 (9)
75	Winning % When Scoring First	60
4-2	Record When Leading After 1	3-2
3-1	Record When Trailing After 1	2-3
7-1	Record When Leading After 2	4-2
517 (1)	Hits	424 (2)
187 (4)	Blocked Shots	274 (1)
50.7 (6)	Faceoffs %	53.6 (1)
14.9 (12)	PIM's Per Game Average	15.9 (15)
NHL.com

With Ben Eager avoiding suspension the big question is whether or not he'll play in Game 3. Yes, he was a hindrance to the Sharks' hopes to win Game 2 but let's face it: Eager is a monstrous presence on San Jose's 4th line. Did I like his antics? No. But at least he's playing with anger and emotion, something the Sharks are generally lacking in this series. I'm pretty sure Eager, who is now on a short leash with the referees, can come back in Game 3 and play the way he normally plays, which is a fast, super-aggressive, in-your-face crushing style without taking that many penalties. But if he's going out there to injure guys with filthy hits.. then I've got 2 words for him.

That being said...STFU Sharks. I am sick of their whining and complaining. If it's not Boyle, it's Ryan Clowe and Eager. Then again, when they are complaining it means they are not winning. The Canucks are generally skating circles around these guys and generally keeping their cool when the Sharks try to get under their skin. Good stuff! Keep it up, boys, because it's going to be even rougher in the Tank. As for the Sharks, if you played as well as you run your mouths you might not be down 2-0 in this series.

The Sharks are 3-for-3 on the power play in this series. Kudos to the Canucks for not taking many penalties...but what the hell is going on with the PK? Well, here are the 3 power play goals scored by the Sharks:

Game 1 (Patrick Marleau). Nobody covers Marleau. Sloppy coverage. Freebie tip in.

Game 2 (Logan Couture). Edler and Salo get turned into pylons.

Game 2 (Patrick Marleau). All kinds of bad bounces on this one and not-such impressive coverage by Luongo.

I'm sure every Canucks fan is going to be anxious any power play chance the Sharks get. The players need to get a few consecutive kills in to put the PK demon to bed. I don't want L.A. 2010 all over again.

LINKS

"When you hear Eager call Kevin Bieksa a phoney when last year we had (Darcy) Hordichuk ask him I don't know how many times to fight and he always turned him down," said Vigneault. "And then I think (Rick Rypien) must be 40 or 45 pounds lighter than him and offered him I don't know how many occasions to fight and he turned him down. So we're going to go in there tomorrow and not worry about all that other stuff and play whistle to whistle and play hard." Vigneault is not impressed with Eager.
Former ref Kerry Fraser has a lot to say about the Eager fiasco as well, and you're going to like it. (TSN)
Dany Heatley has his lowest career NHL points total this season, and it's carrying over into the playoffs. Works for me. 1 assist in 2 games against the Canucks in Round 3.
"There’s a lot of series left," Thornton said. "We play well here at home, so they (the home fans at HP Pavilion) can bring us some energy and we can get the win tomorrow." (NHL.com). Yeah, that 4-3 home playoff record is so killer, Joe.
The face that goes with the boobs (Puck Daddy). DAAAAAAMNNNNNNN. Hey female Sharks fans....step up to the plate!