Sharks Cs Thornton, Couture day to day heading into playoffs

A Battle of Alberta playoff would have had the history and the geography storylines, obviously, but it’s hard to overlook the subplot of the Edmonton Oilers vs. the San Jose Sharks in Round 1 – and it’s off the ice, not on it. The Oilers lack a true No. 1 defenseman who is capable of shutting down an opposing team’s top line. Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers have been red hot the last several weeks and would love to keep that confidence going heading into the playoffs.

The Edmonton Oilers in a Monday afternoon email said the “very limited inventory” of “hundreds of tickets per game” were purchased within five minutes.

Nikolay Goldobin and Nikita Tryamkin both put pucks into the net for Vancouver. He started the season with the Comets before being demoted to the aces. Will this young team be overwhelmed by the situation, or can they carry the wonderful momentum they’ve had since mid-March into the playoffs? We played well at times but they found ways to get the job done on the power play, on the penalty kill, on the 5 on 5. Couture leads the team in power play goals (11), while Thornton leads the team in power play assists (18).

Now, after all of the scrutiny the Canucks have received from the media and its fans this year, they have a chance to do the right thing once and for all: Lose these next two games in regulation and they’ll finish 29th in the National Hockey League.

Crosby finished third in 2013-14 with 38 points but was only one back of Alex Ovechkin and six behind his Washington Capitals linemate Nicklas Backstrom in power play production.

But McLellan, Woodcroft and Johnson know a slew of Sharks players.

Sharks: Health. San Jose is a savvy, experienced team that knows all about the price required to win in the playoffs. They went, 3-1-0-1 against the Sharks, 3-2 against the Ducks and 4-0 against the Flames.

Local travel agency Newwest Travel is offering trips down to San Jose that include lower-bowl seats at playoff games against the Oilers. Edmonton won each of the last three meetings, all in regulation: 4-1 on January 26, 3-2 on March 30, and 4-2 on Thursday. But, allowing a hair more scoring chances, shots, or attempts can seperate opponents quickly over the course of such a small sample size.

That’s a lot of motivation for a team that easily could have had nothing to play for today, and if that was the case probably would have sat their star. The Sharks, however, can derive some hope from some potential shorthanded regression for the Oilers. You’re gonna get some of those jokes tonight, because I watched and analyzed nearly 40 games this season.

Oilers: Cam Talbot, goalie – Talbot led the National Hockey League with 73 starts, seven more than Frederik Andersen of the Toronto Maple Leafs and eight more than his counterpart in this series, Martin Jones. Nor can San Jose’s huge edge in experience.