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Gameday: Ducks at Sharks, San Jose Good During Regular Season, Shocking (Sarcasm Font)

Stop me if you've heard this one before, the Sharks are playing really well during the regular season. Key words 'regular' and 'season'.

Anaheim's favorite pest loves playing the Sharks
Anaheim's favorite pest loves playing the Sharks
Jeff Gross


Next Game

Anaheim Ducks
@ San Jose Sharks

Tuesday, Jan 29, 2013, 7:30 PM PST
HP Pavilion

TV: Prime Ticket, NHLN-CA

Radio: AM 830 KLAA

Your Enemy: Fear the Fin

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Wow, it's the regular season and the Sharks are 5-0. Why anyone should be surprised by this, I don't know.

This is the Sharks we're talking about. You know, overachieve during the regular season only to die a miserable death during the play-offs. Somewhere in there you throw in a meltdown of Patrick Marleau's offensive prowess with discussions of how long Todd McLenon has left before he gets the axe, and BOOM, you have the San Jose Sharks typical regular season.

Around two-ish seasons ago, I would have considered San Jose the Ducks biggest division rival. The games used to be tense. I went to one game where it was nearly silent in Honda Center (with a large contingent of San Jose fans in the house) until one of the teams scored a goal. Luckily it was Anaheim and the place exploded like we'd just won the Stanley Cup again; not that Sharks fans can relate.

The games aren't nearly as intense anymore. The previous season, the Ducks were 5-1-0 against San Jose. During one of those games in San Jose, an actual dead duck was strapped to someone until late in the game when the carcass was tossed on to the ice. It still remains one of the weirdest moments in Ducks history. The question still remains, why the hell did this person wait until late in the game to toss the duck? Walking around with a dead animal hidden somewhere on my person isn't exactly my idea of a great night at the hockey rink; yet, once again, this is San Jose we're talking about. Nothing should surprise me anymore.

There is no better time than now to get the big guns scoring consistently. Teemu Selanne, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan all love playing against San Jose. Take a look:

Bobby Ryan - 26 GP, 12 G, 10 A, 39 hits, 2 PPG, 4 PPA, 1 GWG, 76 SOG
Corey Perry - 43 GP, 18 G, 13 A, 10 hits, 5 PPG, 8 PPA, 4 GWG, 132 SOG
Ryan Getzlaf - 43 GP, 7 G, 25 A, 56 hits, 5 PPG. 10 PPA, 80 SOG
Teemu Selanne - 84 GP, 50 G, 46 A, plus-17, 6 hits, 14 PPG, 27 PPA, 8 GWG, 306 SOG

To be fair, let's look at the current points leaders for San Jose in their careers against the Ducks:

Patrick Marleau - 84 GP, 23 G, 26 A, 11 hits, 6 PPH, 8 PPA, 3 GWG, 183 SOG
Joe Thornton - 57 GP, 16 G, 40 A, 17 hits, 7 PPG, 18 PPA, 3 GWG, 141 SOG
Joe Pavelski - 35 GP, 4 G, 12 A, 12 hits, 1 PPG, 8 PPA, 111 SOG
Logan Couture - 11 GP, 1 G, 2 A, 10 hits, 1 PPG, 29 SOG

They say history always repeats itself. If that's true, I like our chances.

Go Ducks!