The San Jose Sharks and Arizona Coyotes may have shared Glendale, Arizona briefly at the start of the season while the Sharks waited out gathering restrictions in the Bay Area, but the ‘Yotes have yet to visit San Jose this season. Now, the final four games of their season series will all be held at SAP Center.
Sitting out on the Sharks’ side will be forwards Ryan Donato and Kevin Labanc, who are both day-to-day with “negging” injuries, per head coach Bob Boughner. The forward group will look a little green and will feature newcomer Alexander Barabanov on the second line. The Sharks acquired Barabanov from the Toronto Maple Leafs at the trade deadline in exchange for center Antti Suomela. The 26-year-old Russian rookie has just 13 NHL games under his belt, tallying a single assist.
The Coyotes are in a race for the final playoff slot with the St. Louis Blues, though the Desert Dogs are having trouble getting wins lately, with significant numbers of players missing games due to injuries. Though goaltender Antti Raanta has made progress, he’s not yet ready to return. Since April 6, the team has just two wins, the last coming on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings.
Here’s everything you need to know to tune in tonight:
Lines
SAN JOSE SHARKS
Rudolfs Balcers — Logan Couture — Timo Meier
Evander Kane — Tomas Hertl — Alexander Barabanov
Jeffrey Viel — Patrick Marleau — Joachim Blichfeld
Noah Gregor — Dylan Gambrell — John Leonard
Mario Ferraro — Brent Burns
Nikolai Knyzhov — Erik Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Greg Pateryn
Josef Korenar
Martin Jones
Expected Scratches: Kurtis Gabriel, Christian Jaros, Marcus Sorensen
Injured Reserve: Ryan Donato (undisclosed), Kevin Labanc (undisclosed), Matt Nieto (lower body), Radim Simek (upper body)
ARIZONA COYOTES
Michael Bunting — Nick Schmaltz — Clayton Keller
Lawson Crouse — Christian Dvorak — Phil Kessel
Dryden Hunt — Johan Larsson — John Hayden
Derick Brassard — Lane Pederson — Christian Fischer
Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Ilya Lyubushkin
Jakob Chychrun — Alex Goligoski
Niklas Hjalmarsson — Jason Demers
Darcy Kuemper
Adin Hill
Expected Scratches: Jordan Oesterle
Injured Reserve: Conor Garland (lower body), Jordan Gross (lower body), Tyler Pitlick (lower body), Antti Raanta (lower body)
How to Watch
Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET at SAP Center in San Jose, California. Tonight’s game will be broadcast regionally on NBC Sports California and Bally Sports Arizona+, as well as available to stream through NHL.tv (blackout restrictions apply).
Follow along in the comments for live updates and reactions throughout the game!
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