Trying something new tonight ...
Ripped off my buddy Rob Pizzo's 'Pizzo's Points', you're getting Neale's Notes. These are - no joke - random thoughts having gone through my head at some point leading up to the game.
As noted in the game thread, Eric Stephens of the OC Register released the line rushes for tonight's bout against San Jose.
Matt Beleskey - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Bobby Ryan - Nick Bonino - Teemu Selanne
Andrew Cogliano - Saku Koivu - Daniel Winnik
Emerson Etem - Rickard Rakell - Kyle Palmieri
Bryan Allen - Cam Fowler
Sheldon Souray - Francois Beauchemin
Luca Sbisa - Toni Lydman
-- against --
Patrick Marleau - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski
Ryane Clowe - Logan Couture - Martin Havlat
Tommy Wingels - Michal Handzus - T.J. Galiardi
Andrew Desjardins - Scott Gomez - Adam Burish
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Brad Stuart
Matt Irwin - Dan Boyle
Douglas Murray - Justin Braun
And now for the random thoughts:
-- Coming in to tonight, the Ducks fourth line has a combined 35 games of NHL regular season experience: Palmieri (32 GP), Rakell (3 GP), Etem (0). Todd McLellan is a match up coach. Anyone else think we'll see him try to get Marleau, Joe 1 and Joe 2 out against them as much as possible?
-- Am I the only person that doesn't like Bryan Allen? Bad outweighs the good to me. He's my goat for the season.
-- How long does Beleskey stay up with the twins? Getzy has always said they needed someone on LW to go into the corners to dig out the puck and be physical. We definitely know Bels has the physical part down.
-- The Sharks have the No. 1 power play; we have the No. 32 best penalty kill. (Gulp)
-- Jonas Hiller has a 4.00 GAA. How long is the leash now that we know backup Viktor Fasth can handle himself on North American ice?
-- I still find it hilarious Scott Gomez is on this team. (And secretly thankful Bob Murray didn't go there.)
-- Too many people on the Sharks spell their first names weirdly: Ryane, Michal, Marc-Edouard, etc.