Preview: Flyers @ Sharks

Chardougla   4 October 2017

The stage has been set, the ice is fresh, the players are ready. The first game of the NHL season is, at long last, here. That beautiful time of the year when even Oilers fans have hop-oh wait what? The Oilers are the favorites in the west?!?!?! What kind of strange bizarro land have we entered? Anyways, like I was saying, the start of the season is a magical time because everyone has hope, hope that this year will be the year. Some of them have legitimate chances, others have longer odds, but you will always find fans that believe. Tonight, our beloved Sharks take on a team that is hoping to rebound from a missed playoff experience a year ago, the Philadelphia Flyers. On behalf of the entire staff here at SJST, I want to welcome you to our first SJST Preview of the season.

 Last 10 games: 0-0-0 (3-2-3 during preseason)

Playoff Position: Tied for 1st in the Metropolitan (finished 2016-2017 6th in the Metropolitan)

The scoop: A combined down year from Philly’s top forwards last year in Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux combined with poor goaltending from the tandem of Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth doomed the Flyers chances last season. Since making it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010, the Flyers have hovered on the playoff bubble; making it some years, missing it others. They hope that change is on the way, however, in the form of some solid drafting and the fortuitous bounces of the ping pong balls. The Flyers were the lucky recipients of the #2 overall pick of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, and used it to draft potential future stud Nolan Patrick, who combines with promising young blueliners Ivan Provorov and Shayne Gostisbehere to form one of the more intriguing young cores in the game. The Flyers hope this young talent combined with bounceback years from their veterans will catapult them into a playoff spot. The factor that might dampen the optimism is, as ever, the goaltending. Philly’s struggles with receiving consistent play in net are well documented, and this year they shipped out Steve Mason to replace him with...Brian Elliott. Elliott has shown he is capable of quality goaltending (2 years ago he led the league in save percentage), but last year he stunk it up in Calgary. The Flyers are hoping he and fellow goaltender Michal Neuvirth have bounceback years. If they don’t, it could be another early ending for the Flyers.

 Why you should hate this team: Because everybody from Philly is obnoxious, arrogant, and belligerently proud of their mediocre sports teams. It would just be really nice to shut them the hell up.

 Exciting Player to Watch: Claude Giroux, C. I could go a number of directions here, but I’m going to go with the captain, or as my friend from Pittsburgh likes to call him, Crosby Lite. Giroux is undoubtedly a talented forward, but these last few years have seen a sharp decline in his production. If he can get back to his scoring ways, it would go a long way towards returning the Flyers to the playoffs.

 First Goal Watch: Nolan Patrick, C. Of course. The savior of Philly hockey, their chosen one. The bastard’s probably gonna score a goddam hat trick.

 Meanwhile, in San Jose: As covered by our most estimable Irbe’s Pads in his season preview (highly recommend btw), this year is a bit of a last stand for the current Sharks core. Though they locked up Burns, Vlasic, and Jones to massive extensions, they lost a beloved piece of franchise history. Patrick Marleau, Mr. Shark, left us when Toronto threw a metric shit ton of cash in his face. While we were able to lock up Jumbo Joe Thornton to a one year extension, losing a franchise legend and one of the best players to ever lace em up in teal will undoubtedly hurt. The organization, instead of acquiring a proven goal scorer to help replace the void left by Marleau’s 27 goals, chose to rely on the somewhat risky strategy of counting on the development of young forwards like Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc to fill the void. Tonight will hopefully provide a glimpse of that promise with Labanc starting on the first line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski and Meier on the third line with Tomas Hertl and Jannick Hansen.

 Goalies: Our Lord and Saviour Martin Jones for the Sharks, and Brian Elliott for the Flyers.

 GO SHARKS!!!!!