Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas – Divisional Round
The San Jose Sharks face the Columbus Blue Jackets with both teams looking to improve from rough seasons. The Sharks have a 14-23-9 record and with only three wins in their last 10 games have fallen to the bottom of the Pacific Division. The Blue Jackets have a 13-30-2 record and with three losses in a row are in last place in the Metropolitan Division. Both teams look to climb out of the bottom of their divisions and the upcoming game looks to be a good one as a result.
The Sharks are having a rough season despite their offense stepping up and scoring 3.07 goals per game. Timo Meier, Tomas Hertl, and Logan Couture have scored 56 goals and 67 assists to lead the top two lines but the rest of the offense has also stepped up. Alexander Barabanov, Kevin Labanc, and Matthew Nieto have combined for 24 goals and 44 assists while defenseman Erik Karlsson has added 15 goals and 47 assists from the point to open up the offense.
The offense has stepped up but the defense has been awful, allowing 3.70 goals per game with 18 goals in the last four games. Erik Karlsson and Jaycob Megna have combined for 4.3 defensive point shares and 105 blocked shots but the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to find open shots on the net at will. In addition, goaltender James Reimer has struggled with a .897 save percentage and a 3.23 goals-against average on 790 shots.