The San Jose Sharks play host to the best team in the NHL tonight, when they faceoff with the Vegas Golden Knights for the final time this season. The Golden Knights have won the two previous games in this series, beating the Sharks 7-3 on Oct. 26 and then coming into SAP Center on Dec. 27 to win 6-3.
Vegas is 8-2-0 on the team’s last 10 games and the team has won two in a row. Vegas beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 on Saturday night in Las Vegas. San Jose has also won two games in a row, beating the New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Saturday.
In the ridiculous stats category, according to the Vegas Golden Knights website, the Knights have never lost in regulation at SAP Center during the regular season. According to the Vegas website, Vegas is 14-0-3 in its regular season history at the Shark Tank.
Jack Eichel leads the team with 52 points. Ivan Barbashev leads the team with 15 goals. In the net, Adin Hill is the Golden Knights’ primary goaltender. He is 17-6-2 this season with a .904 save percentage and 2.58 goals against average.
The San Jose Sharks, meanwhile, are dealing with some injuries. After tonight, the team will have a few days to simply practice before returning to action on Saturday, so this is a good time for everyone to get healthy. Jake Walman skated with the team today, according to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng. Walman could be an option as early as Saturday against the Utah Hockey Club.
Nico Sturm will also miss another game, but is still considered day-to-day. Peng reports that Sturm was not skating with the team today.
San Jose Sharks lines tonight
It sounds like Alexandar Georgiev will get his first start in a week. Yaroslav Askarov started the last two games, both wins for the Sharks, but the team is clearly trying to manage his load considering he is a rookie. Georgiev’s last outing was on New Year’s Eve against the Philadelphia Flyers. He allowed four goals on 34 shots.
Peng reports that Shakir Mukhamadullin will be back in with Marc-Edouard Vlasic sitting. No changes in the forward group. Here’s what we think the lines will look like tonight.
Forwards
William Eklund – Mikael Granlund – Fabian Zetterlund
Collin Graf – Macklin Celebrini – Will Smith
Klim Kostin – Alexander Wennberg – Tyler Toffoli
Barclay Goodrow – Luke Kunin – Nikolai Kovalenko
Defense
Henry Thrun – Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro – Timothy Liljegren
Shakir Mukhamadullin – Jan Rutta
Goaltenders
Alexandar Georgiev
Yaroslav Askarov
Vegas Golden Knights lines vs. San Jose Sharks
According to SinBin.vegas on Twitter, these were the lines during practice. We could see a different set of lines than we did the last time these two teams met in late December. It looks like the pairings on defense will remain the same.
Pearson sticking on the top line with Olofsson going to the 3rd after missing last game with an illness. Roy is on the ice but did not participate in the initial line rushes.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 6, 2025
Pearson-Eichel-Stone⁰Hertl-Karlsson-Dorofeyev
Olofsson-Howden-Kolesar⁰Rondbjerg-Schwindt-Holtz…
Forwards
Tanner Pearson – Jack Eichel – Mark Stone
Tomas Hertl – William Karlsson – Pavel Dorofeyev
Victor Olofsson Brett Howden – Keegan Kolesar
Jonas Rondbjerg – Cole Schwindt – Alexander Holtz
Defense
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin – Alex Pietrangelo
Nicolas Hague – Zach Whitecloud
Goaltenders
Adin Hill
Ilya Samsonov
How to watch Golden Knights at Sharks Jan. 7, 2025
For Sharks fans, the game will air on NBC Sports California. Fans can also listen to the game on the Sharks Audio Network.
Golden Knights’ fans can watch on Vegas 34 in Las Vegas or stream on KnightTime+. On the radio, the game will air on FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9 and 1340 AM.
The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET at SAP Center.
