The San Jose Sharks wrap up the team’s road trip in St. Louis today. This is the first time the teams will play since the Blues fired Head Coach Drew Bannister and replaced him with Jim Montgomery.
Since the coaching change, the Blues have gone 5-1-1 and now sit at fifth in the Central Division. The Blues are only four points back of the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars in the Central Division standings.
Of course, a change in coaching isn’t likely to have much impact on tonight’s results. The Blues have already won the two previous matchups against the Sharks. St. Louis spoiled San Jose’s home opener on Oct. 10 beating the Sharks 5-4 in overtime. Then, on Nov. 21, the Blues won 5-4 in a shootout.
Jordan Kyrou leads the team with 24 points in 29 games. He has 10 goals this season and shares the team lead with Dylan Holloway.
On the Sharks end of things, the team has made a lot of roster moves this week. The team placed Valtteri Pulli on unconditional waivers yesterday for contract termination purposes. That process was completed today.
“Valtteri requested to play in Europe and we mutually agreed to terminate his contract,” said Sharks Assistant General Manager Joe Will. “We want to thank Valtteri for his contributions to the organization and wish him all the best.”
In other transactions, Ethan Cardwell and Jack Thompson were sent to the Barracuda. That makes sense since there needed to be a roster move with Nikolai Kovalenko joining the team. The Sharks also pulled Shakir Mukhamadullin up from the AHL. He is expected to play today.
San Jose Sharks lines tonight
In net, we’ll get our first look at Alexandar Georgiev. He’s the starting goaltender today. After playing fewer than ten minutes in his first game with the Sharks, Kovalenko will get some time on the top line. According to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky is going to give Kovalenko a shot with Macklin Celebrini today.
Forwards
Nikolai Kovalenko – Macklin Celebrini – Tyler Toffoli
Klim Kostin – Mikael Granlund – Fabian Zetterlund
Barclay Goodrow – Alex Wennberg – Luke Kunin
William Eklund – Nico Sturm – Ty Dellandrea
Defense
Jake Walman – Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro – Timothy Liljegren
Shakir Mukhamadullin – Jan Rutta
Goaltenders
Alexandar Georgiev
Vitek Vanecek
St. Louis Blues lines vs. San Jose Sharks
As for the Blues, look for Jordan Binnington in net. Here’s what the rest of the lines will look like according to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford.
#stlblues projected lineup vs. San Jose tonight:
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 12, 2024
Buchnevich-Thomas-Kyrou
Saad-Schenn-Neighbours
Holloway-Sundqvist-Bolduc
Toropchenko-Walker-Joseph
Broberg-Parayko
Suter-Faulk
Joseph-Kessel
Binnington
Forwards
Pavel Buchnevich – Robert Thomas – Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad – Brayden Schenn – Jake Neighbours
Dylan Holloway – Oskar Sundqvist – Zack Bolduc
Alexey Toropchenko – Nathan Walker – Mathieu Joseph
Defense
Philip Broberg – Colton Parayko
Ryan Suter – Justin Faulk
Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Matthew Kessel
Goaltenders
Jordan Binnington
Joel Hofer
How to watch San Jose Sharks at St. Louis Blues Dec. 12, 2024
Game time is 5 p.m. PT/7 p.m. CT at Enterprise Centwr in St. Louis.
Sharks fans can watch the game on NBC Sports California or listen on the Sharks Audio Network.
Blues fans can watch on the FanDuel Sports Network or listen on 101 ESPN.
