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There are more than a few clinching scenarios in play in Sin City tonight. With a win, the San Jose Sharks (44-24-10, 2nd Pacific) could clinch a playoff berth on their last road game of the regular season, and with a single point the Vegas Golden Knights (49-22-7, 1st Pacific) can clinch the Pacific Division. As you may have gathered, the distant dream of the Sharks taking the Knights' division crown has pretty much faded into the sunset, they trail by seven points with four games remaining, but home ice is still something worth fighting for. San Jose is four points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings for second.
That dream essentially died with San Jose's 5-3 regulation loss to the Nashville Predators on Thursday night. Despite the result, that game should give hope to Sharks fans, as our boys gave hell to the best team in the NHL in their barn, absolutely shelling a resolute Juuse Saros for 24 shots in the third period. Had Saros picked a different night to channel the disembodied spirit of Terry Sawchuk, tonight's game may have meant quite a bit more. That loss ended a nine game point streak for the Sharks.
After a slight cooling off period, the Knights are winning hockey games again, going 4-1-2 in their last seven games. William Karlsson sits fifth in the NHL with 41 goals on the season, Jonathan Marchessault goes into his 200th career NHL game with a team leading 75 points, and Marc-Andre Fleury is chasing his 403rd career win, which would move him past Grant Fuhr for sole possession of 11th all time. In short, as has been the case all year, everything's coming up Golden.
Let's ruin it for them, just for kicks.
Sharks Lines
Evander Kane -- Joe Pavelski -- Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Mikkel Boedker
Timo Meier -- Chris Tierney -- Kevin Labanc
Melker Karlsson -- Joel Ward -- Marcus Sorensen
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon -- Dylan DeMelo
Scratched: Tim Heed, Joakim Ryan, Jannik Hansen
Injured: Joe Thornton (knee), Eric Fehr (lower body), Barclay Goodrow (broken finger)
You read that right, kids, the return of Joonas Donskoi is imminent. He'll join Marchessault in the 200 games club tonight. If nothing else, it'll be exciting to see that top line in action tonight. Thornton skated with the team this morning, but reports are that he mostly just coasted around. Not surprising considering he can't bend his knees ever again.
Golden Knights Lines
Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Alex Tuch
David Perron -- Erik Haula -- James Neal
Ryan Carpenter -- Cody Eakin -- Tomas Tatar
Tomas Nosek -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Ryan Reaves
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Shea Theodore -- Deryk Engelland
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched: Brad Hunt, Oscar Lindberg, Zach Whitecloud
Injured: Reilly Smith (upper body), Luca Sbisa (upper body), William Carrier (upper body)
Tonight also marks Neal's 700th career NHL game. Lots of big, fancy round numbers tonight, hey?
Where to watch
Broadcast: NBCSCA, ATTSN-RM
Stream: NHL.tv / NHL App
Radio: 98.5 KFOX / NHL App / Sharks App
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