The Hawks are off to the most happenin' suburb in the NHL for a game between the best two teams in the league. The Sharks had their first regulation loss on the year last night in Anaheim, which makes them still perfect at home (5-0-1, we should be so lucky).

The Sharks have been really dangerous so far, with Marleau and Thornton apparently going balls-out to give this thing one last shot before they turn 34 and start winding down. With those two + Couture, Pavelski, Handzus, and Gomez, they have like six natural centers in their top nine, which seems pretty daunting to me.

I'm pretty sure Antti Niemi owns our ass despite being generally average overall. Let's check what he's done against us since getting squeezed out of Chicago:
11/24/2010: 30/32, win
12/11/2010: 28/29, overtime win
12/30/2010: 26/29, win
03/14/2011: 14/18, loss, left game at 27:35

11/23/2011: 34/34, win
12/11/2011: 31/34, overtime loss
01/15/2012: 36/40, loss
02/10/2012: 30/33, win

So they've gotten 11 points out of 16 with Niemi, we've gotten 7. Other than the shutout last year, it could be that he did so well against the 2011 Hawks because the 2011 Hawks were pretty bad. Still, it's a pretty solid record, and the Sharks' team GAA is a stingy 1.667, one of the few teams with goaltending better than ours. Imagine that.

Bolland is somehow a gametime decision for tonight after it looked like Jannik Hansen destroyed his leg. That's good! Still, I'd be inclined to hold him out tonight and be on the safe side if our center depth were any better than it is. Kruger covers the ice well, but he finishes weaker than a guy on his fourth wank of the day, and Shaw's deficiencies have been noted enough by now. Look for the Sharks to dominate faceoffs tonight.

Not-so-bold prediction: Brandon Bollig is gonna try to fight Joe Thornton for concussing Toews, that goofy-grinned motherfucker will slink away, and he'll just settle for fighting Adam Burish instead. They will swing wildly at each other and one will fall down, and it will be called a gutsy fight that really rallied the troops; retribution will be said to have gotten despite the fact that Burish wasn't even on their fucking team a year ago. Bollig's TOI for the game will be 3:49.

Doug Wilson is a cocksucker. Go Hawks.

_________________

The Sharks are overachieving early in the season. They're a lot like the Hawks when you think about it. They have one superstar line and if you shut down that line there's a good chance you can beat them. However, they have great defense early in the year and solid goaltending to go with it, just like the Hawks. This will be the Sharks 3rd game in 4 nights and the Hawks are coming in with the last 2 days off. I think the Hawks have a really good chance at beating the Sharks tonight. There's no way they can play as bad as they did against the Flames, right?

What I learned today. Kruger needs ginseng and spanish fly in his diet. Who knew?

Disagree. Beyond their first line they still have Martin Havlat, Logan Couture, Ryane Clowe, Michael Handzus, and a Scott Gomez that might've remembered how to play. I wouldn't sleep on their depth, and I should like to think we have more than one line ourselves. The 2010 Sharks, though, now that was kiddie-pool depth. Marleau, Thornton, Heatley, and a whole bunch of whatever. I also disagree that they're underachieving. I know it's not the end-all-be-all, but by pythagorean expectation they're actually underachieving by 1.5 points, Hawks overachieving by about 2.5.

I can't believe they traded Jamie McGinn, though. Hell of a player. It's not every day the sorry-ass Sharks farm system coughs up a legitimate NHL player.

_________________

Corey Crawford and Antti Niemi is the goalie matchup for Blackhawks/Sharks late night tonight in San Jose, just so you know.

Chris Kuc reporting that Bolland states he will be back in the lineup this evening.

Wow. This is great to hear.

Sharks are good, long night for the beloved tonight I fear.

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Too fuckin late man.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I will be long unconscious by the time this one ends but I will catch the 1st period. Hope its a good one.

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

My favorite thing about Sharks games is that instead of an organ, they have a Casio synthesizer that is set only to sawtooth wave and orchestra hit, so everything sounds like it's about to break into "Jump" by Van Halen.

_________________

That didn't take long. Yikes.

_________________

Double yikes.

Bad.

You really shouldn't be giving up no-doubters to Tommy fucking Wingels. Embarrassing.

Hawks look absolutely smothered out there night after night now. I'm really losing faith in this team.

_________________

I agree but that was a fucking top shelf laser

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Hawks actually had a decent PP. Nice puck movement and a couple of good shots.

Nice!

Filthy puck movement. Holy shit.

Wonderful play! Nice finish by Saad.

Whooooo Saaader!!!

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Fuck!

I'm digging saad but that was nice by Hossa and Toews too

Time to pull that awful Jack Crawford.

_________________
Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

Another crap turnover by Kane leads to an odd man rush. Still gotta make that save tho.

This is crazy

The fuck is going on...

That was a positively Shavian goal. We needed that. And hey, way to go, Saad.

_________________

Becoming a trend for the whole team to be honest.

_________________

Was watching 5pm Sportscenter and Melrose jokingly predicted a 9-8 score.