Coyotes at Sharks: Lines, gamethread, and where to watch

The Sharks (21-13-6, 4th Pacific) return from their relaxing vacation to a lost playoff spot and a visit from the Arizona Coyotes (10-28-6, 8th Pacific). The recent dominance of the Calgary Flames, who've won their last six straight, has hoisted them up into third in the division while the Sharks rested on their laurels, helped in no small part by the latter's unimpressive 1-2-2 road trip. San Jose is now four points out of third in the division and two points back of the Chicago Blackhawks for the Western conference's second wild card spot, but have played four games fewer than both target teams. In fact, at 40 games played, the Sharks are tied with the Boston Bruins for fewest games played to date.

The Coyotes came back from their bye week last night to a drubbing at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers. Despite scoring on two of their first three shots, the Coyotes dropped a 4-2 decision to their cellar mates in the desert. If there's one bright spot in another dismal season for the Yotes, it's rookie Clayton Keller who leads their team in points (33), goals (14), and assists (19), has ten points in his last 11 appearances, and sits third league wide in rookie scoring. His odds of catching Mathew Barzal or Brock Boeser, first and second in said race respectively, are slim, but he represents a glimmer of hope for fans in Glendale.

The rest versus rust debate has been alive and well, and hopefully some time off will help the Sharks prevent recording their longest losing streak of the season tonight. If they can contain Keller and resist the urge to underestimate their opponent, they should be confident in a two point outing against a tired Coyotes squad.

Points: Burns (30) Keller (33)

Sharks Lines

Timo Meier -- Joe Thornton -- Joe Pavelski

Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Kevin Labanc

Mikkel Boedker -- Chris Tierney -- Joonas Donskoi

Marcus Sorensen -- Barclay Goodrow -- Melker Karlsson

Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun

Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns

Joakim Ryan -- Tim Heed

Martin Jones

Aaron Dell

Scratched: Paul Martin , Jannik Hansen , Joel Ward

Injured: Dylan DeMelo (flu)

DeMelo is the latest casualty to the PDB flu. Maybe he caught it from Martin. Boedker is set to win this round of the coach's shuffle after his first healthy scratch last Sunday in Winnipeg.

Coyotes Lines

Brendan Perlini -- Derek Stepan -- Richard Panik

Christian Fischer -- Max Domi -- Tobias Rieder

Clayton Keller -- Christian Dvorak -- Josh Archibald

Jordan Martinook -- Brad Richardson -- Zac Rinaldo

Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Alex Goligoski

Jakob Chychrun -- Niklas Hjalmarsson

Kevin Connauton -- Jason Demers

Scott Wedgewood

Antti Raanta

Scratched: Freddie Hamilton, Luke Schenn, Nick Cousins

Rinaldo is drawing back into the lineup after serving a six game suspension for sucker punching Colorado's Samuel Girard on 23 December. His skill, discipline, and veteran leadership have been sorely missed. Ahem.

Where to watch

Broadcast: NBCSA, FS-A

Stream: NHL.tv / NHL App

Radio: 98.5 KFOX / NHL App / Sharks App