The San Jose Sharks have lost their last eight Conference Finals games dating back to 2004 and have also lost five of their last six playoff games dating back to the Detroit series. To get themselves back into this series against the Vancouver Canucks, they need to take Game 3 on Friday night.
Canucks Vs. Sharks, Game 3: San Jose Looking To Salvage Series At Home
The Sharks may have an advantage as Roberto Luongo hasn't won a game in HP Pavilion since April 7, 2007. During that stretch, Luongo has gone 0-2-1 during that stretch and over his career, Luongo is 3-4-1 playing in San Jose with a 2.54 goals against average and .913 save percentage. He has also had a couple of miscues in this series that have gift wrapped goals for the Sharks. In Game 1, he passed the puck from behind the net right onto Joe Thornton's stick. In Game 2, while covering a puck on the power play, the puck squirted between his legs and into the net before he could properly cover it up.
The Canucks defense has done a fantastic job in this series though limiting the Sharks chances. San Jose has scored five goals in the two games thus far and three of those goals have come on the power play. Vancouver has out-shot the Sharks in each of the six periods in this series and have severely limited the offensive zone time the Sharks have had in this series.
The Sharks are looking to tweak their lineup heading into Game 3, but what those changes are going to be won't be known until game time. The best guess is a shuffling of their third line of Joe Pavelski, Kyle Wellwood, and Torrey Mitchell a line that has been pretty non-existent and dismal in these two games.
The Canucks are looking to do some shuffling around as well even though they are up two games to zero in this series. Fourth line center Cody Hodgson is looking to be replaced by Alexandre Bolduc. Here is what head coach Alain Vigneault had to say about the switch:
“Alex has good size, a real strong skater,” Vigneault said of Bolduc, who has yet to play in the post-season. “We’ve seen him this year. He’s played over 20 games with our team. He has that ability to get in on the forecheck, real strong skater, so”... If we do make some changes, that’s what he can bring.”
Game time is 9:00 p.m. ET and can be seen on CBC in Canada and on Versus in the United States.
For more on the NHL's Western Conference Final, check in with our Sharks vs. Canucks series hub, as well as our blogs: Fear The Fin covering the Sharks and Nucks Misconduct covering the Canucks. You can find more local coverage at SB Nation Bay Area and Battle of California.
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