Oilers at Sharks (game 36): Lines, game thread and how to watch

No rest for the weary. The San Jose Sharks have a quick turnaround today. After traveling home following a tough 5-1 loss in Los Angeles to the Kings, the Sharks crawled into their beds in San Jose early this morning, only to have to rise and prepare for the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are already in San Jose, waiting for the Sharks. In fact, Edmonton hasn’t played since Dec. 22, when the team beat the New York Rangers 4-3.

The Oilers are 7-3-0 in the last ten games as the team continues to try and work its way back into the playoffs. While the holiday break was a nice way to reset, Edmonton will be looking to return to its winning ways quickly.

“I think it’s jumping right back in the saddle and playing the same hockey that we were before Christmas,” forward Derek Ryan told NHL.com. “We’re just coming off a break, so we’re trying to kind of get back in the saddle and get our game back to where it needs to be.”

Edmonton will need to continue on this pace, if not better, if it wants to get back into the Pacific Division race. As of this morning, the Oilers sit in sixth place in the Pacific Division, 13 points behind the Los Angeles Kings, who are in third place, and 7 points behind the Arizona Coyotes and Nashville Predators, who currently have the two wild card spots locked up.

The last time the Sharks and the Oilers met, Edmonton was in the midst of a slump that management simply could not tolerate. Meanwhile, San Jose was looking for its second win of the season. Less than three days after Edmonton’s 3-2 loss at SAP Center on Nov. 9, Head Coach Jay Woodcraft was fired. Kris Knoblauch, the former head coach of the Hartford Wolf Pack, now resides behind the bench in Edmonton.

Connor McDavid has picked up his scoring pace since the Nov. 9 loss. He has 44 points in 29 games this season, much better than the 17 points he had in 13 games when the two teams met last. Zach Hyman leads the team with 19 goals and Leon Draisaitl continues to contribute with 35 points of his own.

In net, Stuart Skinner is starting to pick things up. He’s won eight of his last ten starts. He’s become the go-to goaltender for the Oilers as Jack Campbell continues to rediscover his game in the AHL.

San Jose Sharks lines tonight

For the Sharks, it will be interesting to see if Magnus Chrona gets his first official start in net. He’s played one game in the NHL, and it wasn’t a fair one. Chrona was called in to take over the net during the 10-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Sharks had already allowed six goals at that point and Chrona wasn’t put in a place to succeed.

However, he’s had some time to play professional hockey with the Barracuda and he hasn’t done poorly. He’s 3-6-0 with a 3.35 goals against average and .900 save percentage. The Barracuda are near the basement of the AHL’s Pacific Division, so you need to take that into account as well. Starting Chrona with a clean slate tonight would allow the rookie netminder to see what playing against some of the NHL’s best is like.

Other than that, don’t expect the lines to change too much. Here’s what we’re guessing we see.

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

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

Goaltenders
Kaapo Kahkonen
Magnus Chrona

Edmonton Oilers lines for Dec. 28, 2023

According the Tony Brar of Oilers TV, here are the lines we can expect to see tonight.

Oilers lines & pairings in San Jose:

RNH – McDavid – Hyman
McLeod – Draisaitl – Foegele
Kane – Ryan – Janmark
Erne – Hamblin – Brown
Holloway

Nurse – Ceci
Ekholm – Bouchard
Kulak – Desharnais
Gleason

Skinner
Pickard#Oilers

— Tony Brar (@TonyBrarOTV) December 28, 2023

Forwards
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Connor McDavid – Zach Hyman
Ryan McLeod – Leon Draisaitl – Warren Foegele
Evander Kane – Derek Ryan – Mattias Janmark
Adam Erne – James Hamblin – Connor Brown

Defensemen
Darnell Nurse – Cody Ceci
Mattias Ekholm – Evan Bouchard
Brett Kulak – Vincent Desharnais

Goaltenders
Jeff Skinner
Calvin Pickard

How to watch Edmonton Oilers at San Jose Sharks on Dec. 28, 2023

You can watch the Sharks game on NBCSCA or listen on the Sharks Audio Network, sjsharks.com/listen. Edmonton fans can watch the game on Sportsnet West or listen on the Oilers Radio Network. It will also run on 630CHED.

The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. PT, 8:30 p.m. MT and 10:30 p.m. ET at SAP Center in San Jose.

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