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The Sharks (32-19-8, 2nd Pacific) start a tough road trip tonight, playing four Central division teams in six nights, only one of which is currently outside of playoff contention. Before visiting the Predators, Blackhawks, and Wild, the Sharks make a stop off to see the Blues (34-22-4, 4th Central) in St. Louis tonight. It seems weird that this is the first meeting of these two teams, but the NHL schedule is all wheels within wheels, man.
The Blues can hop up to third place in the division with a win tonight and, with a 0-2-1 record in their last three, they could use a good showing. As the saying goes, your losing streak is wrapping up when you're losing games you deserve to win. If that's the case, the Blues are due: they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Dallas Stars on Friday night despite out shooting their hosts 29 to 16. St. Louis' only goal came courtesy of Brayden Schenn who, much to the chagrin of Flyers fans, is having a massive breakout season and leads the Blues in goals (24), assists (31), and points (55).
San Jose shares St. Louis' last opponent, but skated to a much different result. Saturday night at the Tank saw a dominant rebuttal to the Stars' 6-0 shut out of our boys on New Year's Eve. The Sharks scored on four of their first five shots, powering them to a 5-2 win. Mikkel Boedker continued heating up, scoring two goals in that game; he's got four goals and an assist to his name in his last three contests.
The Sharks could hit the road running tonight, but St. Louis is cruising on a four game winning streak against our good good teal boys, and with Joel Ward and Tomas Hertl placed on injured reserve yesterday along with Joe Thornton's continued absence, it could be an uphill skate.
Sharks Lines
Timo Meier -- Joe Pavelski -- Melker Karlsson
Joonas Donskoi -- Logan Couture -- Kevin Labanc
Mikkel Boedker -- Chris Tierney -- Jannik Hansen
Barclay Goodrow -- Daniel O'Regan -- Marcus Sorensen
Joakim Ryan -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brendan Dillon -- Dylan DeMelo
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Paul Martin, Rudolfs Balcers, Tim Heed
Injured: Joe Thornton (knee), Joel Ward (shoulder), Tomas Hertl (upper body)
Blues Lines
Alexander Steen -- Paul Stastny -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Sammy Blais
Ivan Barbashev -- Kyle Brodziak -- Patrik Berglund
Scottie Upshall -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Dmitrij Jaskin
Carl Gunnarsson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Chris Butler -- Vince Dunn
Carter Hutton
Jake Allen
Scratched: Chris Thorburn
Injured: Joel Edmundson (forearm), Robert Bortuzzo (lower body), Vladimir Sobotka (illness)
Where to watch
Broadcast: NBCSCA, FSMW
Stream: NHL.tv / NHL App
Radio: 98.5 KFOX / NHL App / Sharks App