Coyotes at Sharks (game 33): Lines, game thread and how to watch

The San Jose Sharks have pulled out some pretty fun theme nights this season and this one is a good one. Fans who attend tonight’s game against the Arizona Coyotes will receive an ugly holiday shirsey.

Fun must be always when you're wearing a Sharks Holiday Sweater Shirsey :-))

Join us tonight at @SAPCenter as the Sharks take on the Coyotes. All fans in attendance will receive this shirsey!

🎟️: https://t.co/SkmDsIo5wt pic.twitter.com/o7PZzI8F7X

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) December 21, 2023

Maybe the look will give the boys a little more luck. Last week, when the Sharks played the Coyotes, the team had two goals disallowed and lost 1-0. San Jose is looking to get out of the goal scoring funk. The team has scored two or fewer goals in the last four games. Not exactly a recipe for success.

The Coyotes come into SAP Center with a three-game win streak on the line. In Arizona’s last game, the team scored three unanswered goals in the third period to come back and beat the Ottawa Senators.

The Sharks are still without Nico Sturm. According to The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka, Sturm had a procedure done in his hand/wrist area to fix an issue that had been there for a while. He’s now starting to use his hand again.

#SJSharks' center had procedure done to fix year-long issue https://t.co/4uCbpmySEo

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) December 21, 2023

On Arizona’s side, it looks like Sean Durzi will return to play since he was injured about two weeks ago against the Boston Bruins. Durzi is expected to replace Juuso Välimäki in the lineup.

San Jose Sharks lines against Arizona Coyotes

Jan Rutta, Calen Addison, Ty Emberson and Ryan Carpenter were all on the ice for the morning skate. It’s possible that Addison or Rutta or both will play in tonight’s game. Also, after saying he’d wished he’d played Filip Zadina more on Tuesday night, Head Coach David Quinn will give the forward all he can handle. Zadina is expected to skate with Tomas Hertl to start tonight’s game.

With all that in mind, here’s what the lines could look like tonight. I’m guessing that Jacob MacDonald moves back to forward if both Addison and Rutta are healthy enough to play. That would make Kevin Labanc the odd man out. If either Addison or Rutta are not healthy enough to play, the MacDonald is likely to play on defense again. I can’t see Quinn benching MacDonald after he was the only one to score Tuesday night.

Forwards
William Eklund – Tomas Hertl – Filip Zadina
Anthony Duclair – Mikael Granlund – Fabian Zetterlund
Mike Hoffman – Luke Kunin – Justin Bailey
Alexander Barabanov – Jack Studnicka – Jacob MacDonald

Defensemen
Mario Ferraro – Kyle Burroughs
Nikita Okhotiuk – Jan Rutta
Henry Thrun – Calen Addison

Goaltenders
Mackenzie Blackwood
Kaapo Kahkonen

Arizona Coyotes lines tonight

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Expect very little change in tonight’s lines for the Coyotes since the team is on a winning streak. Durzi is in, but the rest of the lineup is likely the same as last game.

Here’s what we expect the lines to look like with some help from Daily Faceoff.

Forwards
Clayton Keller – Alex Kerfoot – Nick Schmaltz
Matias Macelli – Nick Bjugstad – Lawson Crouse
Michael Carcone – Jack McBain – Zach Sanford
Jason Zucker – Logan Cooley – Liam O’Brien

Defensemen
J. J. Moser – Sean Durzi
Troy Stecher – Mathew Dumba
Travis Dermott – Michael Kesselring

Goaltenders
Karel Vejmelka
Connor Ingram

How to watch Arizona Coyotes at San Jose Sharks Dec. 21, 2023

Tonight’s game is another one of those exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu, so if you don’t have either of those, download the Sharks App now and listen to Dan Rusanowsky on the radio call. You can listen to all of the Sharks games through the app. Arizona fans will have to listen through Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.

The puck drop for tonight’s game is at 7:30 p.m. PST at SAP Center in San Jose. That’s 8:30 p.m. MST and 10:30 p.m. EST.

And always, check back here for all the in game action and join the rest of the Fear the Fin community.