After a sloppy but big victory against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, the Sharks will begin a three game set against teams from the central division tonight, beginning with the Nashville Predators.

It was good to have Paul Martin return to the team, but it sounds as though Ben Smith and Joonas Donskoi’s return dates are still to be determined. This morning’s practice should determine their status.

Tale Of The Tape

	@
6-1-1	Record	5-3-0
2nd in Central	Rank	4th in Pacific
51.7%	Score-Adj. Fenwick	52.5%
102.2	PDO	101.8
19.2	PP%	12.0
87.5	PK%	78.6

7:30 PDT – SAP Center – San Jose, California
TV: NBCSN – Radio: KFOX 98.5
Know Your Enemy: On the Forecheck

Last Meeting

Despite throwing 42 shots at Preds’ goalie Pekka Rinne, the Sharks were downed 5-1 in February when these two teams last met. Hopefully having Martin Jones in net this time will lead to a better outcome.

Storylines

• We don’t know yet if Donskoi and Smith will be ready to play tonight, but it looks as though they’re at least getting close:

No definitive update on Joonas Donskoi or Ben Smith, although #SJSharks had no extra bodies in practice today

— Kevin Kurz (@KKurzCSN) October 27, 2015

• Melker Karlsson also looks to be close to returning to play. He wasn’t on the ice for the Barracuda on Saturday, but he was practicing yesterday and should be making a return in the near future.
• The Pacific division as a whole has been a storyline so far this season – as Jake wrote about yesterday. With Anaheim and Edmonton both blowing late leads again last night this will only become a bigger opportunity for the Sharks. San Jose would do well to make this hole as deep as possible for the other contenders in the Pacific.
• Speaking of Anaheim’s loss…

this makes me really sad, but i feel it is my duty to post it. pic.twitter.com/9hOtvKiiQU

— Stephanie (@myregularface) October 28, 2015