Philadelphia Flyers v San Jose Sharks Live

Just like in last year’s NHL campaign, the San Jose Sharks established themselves as the team to beat in the upper echelon of the Western Conference. Thus, the Flyers will do their best to avoid a loss on the road when the game between San Jose and Philadelphia gets underway at HP Pavilion on Sunday at 3 a.m. GMT.

Much like the Sharks, Philadelphia’s front-office is very content with they way things turned out for the Flyers so far. More precisely, the team around Mike Richards is holding on to a fifth place in the competitive Eastern Conference as they posted an 11-5-1 record to start the season. Although Philly showcased a great performance of their offensive lines with 62 goals in 17 games, John Stevens’ squad also proved that they can perform at the other end of the ice. Holding their opponents to 2.22 games per contest and posting a .923 save percentage, goaltender Ray Emery certainly was a tough obstacle to overcome in the first two months of action. Leading the Flyers’ offensively, center Jeff Carter underlined his value for the franchise from Pennsylvania as he scored 7 goals and 19 points in 17 appearances.

The San Jose Sharks on the other hand steadily improved as the season went on and made it all the way to the first place in the Western Conference. Considering that the Sharks’ front-office pulled off a blockbuster trade just a few days before the season got underway, it is no surprise that they came out of the gates a bit out of sync. That said, Dany Heatley seems to be fully integrated into San Jose’s offensive lines now and added 14 goals and 9 assists for a total of 23 points thus far. Likewise, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dan Boyle combined for 68 points in just 20 games. As spectacular as the Sharks have been offensively, one should not forget that the defense around veteran All-Star Rob Blake also showed some weaknesses in the first two months of action. Allowing 53 goals already, San Jose was not consistently able to contain their opponents’ key players. In conclusion, the Sharks might have a slight edge over the Flyers on Sunday night, but should not underestimate Chris Pronger and company. Albeit the Flyers’ offense might not be quite as potent as the Sharks’, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards have shown numerous times that they are able to make clutch plays in crunchtime.

You can watch all games of the Philadelphia Flyers and San Jose Sharks right here on www.watchlivenhl.com, the home of NHL live streaming.