After three consecutive losses in brutal fashion, the Sharks are hoping to turn things around tonight against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins. While the Penguins (20-23-8) have a better overall record than the Sharks (14-32-6), it’s certainly not where the Pens wanted to be at this juncture of the season. Neither team is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs at this point, but the odds that both teams will start the offseason in April are pretty darn good.
For the Sharks, this is where the team was supposed to be. After all, it’s still coming out of its rebuild. For the Penguins, this is a bucket of cold water over what was supposed to be a rebound season for Sidney Crosby and company. Sid no longer the Kid leads one of the oldest teams in the league when you look at the average age of its players. According to The Athletic, the Penguins were the third oldest team in the league at the start of the season. But even at the age of 37, Crosby is still an extremely effective player.
He leads the Penguins with 52 points in 51 games and his linemate Rickard Rakell has 23 goals this season.
Crosby’s longtime teammate Evgeni Malkin is out of the lineup tonight. Malkin was injured during Saturday night’s game in Seattle and was placed on injured reserve over the weekend. Taking his place will be Jesse Puljujarvi, who was recalled from Wilkes-Barre.
In the net for Pittsburgh, we expect to see Alex Nedeljkovic. He made headlines earlier this month when he became the first goalie to ever score a goal and register an assist in an NHL game.
ALEX NEDELJKOVIC GOALIE GOAL! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/VY3nmoV2jF
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 18, 2025
He’s also okay at stopping the puck. Nedeljkovic is 9-8-4 with a 3.26 goals against average and a .893 save percentage. That’s better than his backup Joel Blomqvist who is 3-7-0 with a 3.59 goals against average and .899 save percentage.
San Jose Sharks lines tonight
The Sharks will have a lot of lineup changes tonight. Jan Rutta is injured, so the team called up Jack Thompson. Meantime, Colin White, who was playing with the Barracuda, will make his debut with the Sharks tonight.
Here’s what Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now guesses the lines are expected to look like:
Forwards
Fabian Zetterlund – Mikael Granlund – Will Smith
William Eklund – Macklin Celebrini – Tyler Toffoli
Luke Kunin – Alex Wennberg – Nikolai Kovalenko
Barclay Goodrow – Scott Sabourin – Walker Duehr
Defense
Cody Ceci – Jake Walman
Mario Ferraro – Timothy Liljegren
Henry Thrun – Jack Thompson
Goaltenders
Alexandar Georgiev
Yaroslav Askarov
Pittsburgh Penguins lines vs. San Jose Sharks
According to Taylor Haase of DK Pittsburgh Sports, these are the expected lines tonight.
Forwards
Rickard Rakell – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting – Cody Glass – Anthony Beauvillier
Drew O’Connor – Kevin Hayes – Philip Tomasino
Bokondji Imama – Noel Acciari – Matt Nieto
Defense
Marcus Pettersson – Kris Letang
Matt Grzelcyk – Erik Karlsson
Ryan Graves – Ryan Shea
Goaltenders
Alex Nedeljkovic
Joel Blomqvist
How to watch Pittsburgh Penguins at San Jose Sharks Jan. 27, 2025
Sharks fans can watch the game on NBC Sports California. You can also listen on the Sharks Audio Network.
For Penguins fans, the game will air on SportsNet Pittsburgh.
Fans outside of either viewership area can watch on ESPN+.
The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET at SAP Center