Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET the San Jose Sharks (7-0-1) do battle with the Detroit Red Wings (6-3-0) live from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The game can be live streamed here. San Jose fans can tune into all the action on KFOX 98.5 FM while Detroit fans can do the same on 97.1 FM The Ticket.
In the first of two meetings between these two former Conference-rivals, the Sharks come in as the only team that is yet to lose in regulation, having won seven of their first eight games to garner 15 out of a possible 16 points to place them atop the realigned Pacific Division, while Detroit has made a smooth transition to the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference and currently sits in first place.
San Jose has looked dominant this year and has spread the scoring up and down the lineup while having a plus-23 goals for to goals against ratio with is the best in the NHL.
"We just come out so strong and heavy," said captain Joe Thornton, who has one goal and is tied for the league-lead with 10 assists, to NHL.com. "We jump on teams quick and don't lay off. We have a great comfort level here. We're just ready to go. As soon as the puck drops we're ready to go."
Detroit embarks on a three-game homestand starting with tonight's tilt and hopes to increase their home winning streak to three games coming off of an embarrassing 5-2 road loss to the Phoenix Coyotes Saturday that saw Phoenix goalie Mike Smith score a goal on Detroit's empty net to end the game. Coach Mike Babcock knows his team has to play better against a high-flying San Jose team.
"We weren't good enough, we didn't play hard enough and we didn't have enough people going," Babcock told NHL.com following Saturday's debacle.
Detroit has been paced by Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg who each have 11 points so far this season. Datsyuk has five goals and six assists while Zetterberg has lit the lamp six times and added five helpers.
San Jose has spread the scoring around and Thornton, Patrick Marleau (seven goals, four assists) and Logan Couture (four goals, seven assists) each have 11 points while Joe Pavelski (three goals, nine assists) leads the team with 12. Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun are tied for the league lead in plus-minus with a plus-10 rating.
Perhaps San Jose's best player has been in net where Antti Niemi has played every single game and has yet to drop a decision in regulation, posting a 7-0-1 record with a 1.86 GAA and a .921 save percentage. Detroit counters with Jimmy Howard who is 3-3-0 with a 2.67 GAA and a .914 save percentage. Detroit backstop Jonas Gustavsson earned the NHL's first star this week after going 3-0-0 with a 1.67 GAA and a .953 save percentage.
Detroit will look to keep its successful home winning streak alive while San Jose looks to build on an already impressive start when these two teams hit the ice tonight.
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