Sharks at Coyotes: Lines, open thread and how to watch

Quick housekeeping. Jamnjon made the suggestion that we should have a scroll to top button. I’ve added it on the left side of the screen. Let me know if that works out for you all. I know that the comments section can get large on game days.

Also, we’re working on the transfer over from Vox, so we should receive all those back files soon.

Leading things off with some somewhat bad news. William Eklund is out for several weeks after having shoulder surgery. Eklund tore the labrum in his left shoulder on this play:

It was initially called day-to-day but turned out to be worse than that. The Sharks say Eklund will be ready to play by training camp in September.

For you desktop doctors out there, Johns Hopkins Medicine says this about labrum tears: “It is believed that it takes at least four to six weeks for the labrum to reattach itself to the rim of the bone, and probably another four to six weeks to get strong. Once the labrum has healed to the rim of the bone, it should see stress very gradually so that it can gather strength. It is important not to reinjure it while it is healing.”

The site also says when allowed to heal properly, an athlete can return “to their previous level of sport with no or few restrictions.”

Defenseman Henry Thurn had two assists in his NHL debut and looked as advertised. While the assists were nice, there’s nothing nicer than seeing a mom watch her son’s dreams come true.

Tank for Bedard

The Sharks have seven games left in the season. The Arizona Coyotes lost last night and are in the midst of a six game losing streak. The race is on for the bottom.

Today’s games of note include:

Panthers @ Blue Jackets
Devils @ Blackhawks
Ducks @ Oilers

It’s doubtful that Arizona will find its way into the mix. 10 points over the next week and a half, two weeks is pretty far to drop. Montreal is probably out of the mix too.

Which leaves Chicago, Columbus, Anaheim and San Jose fighting it out for the bottom. Only three points separate the four teams, but San Jose’s little win streak (two games) has vaulted the team to the 29th in the league.

Luckily for the Sharks, finishing with the fourth worst record in the league still gives the team a 9.5% chance of securing that first overall draft pick.

San Jose Sharks

STATS

Record: 21-39-15
Streak: W2
Goals Leader: Logan Couture (26 G, 36 A)
Assists Leader: Erik Karlsson (22 G, 69 A)
Power Play: 17.3%
Penalty Kill: 83.1%
Goals For/60: 2.87
Goals Against/60: 3.77

LINES
(Per NHL.com)

Thomas Bordeleau — Logan Couture — Fabian Zetterlund
Jacob Peterson — Tomas Hertl — Danil Gushchin
Noah Gregor — Nico Sturm — Kevin Labanc
Kyle Criscuolo — Steven Lorentz — Jeffrey Viel

Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Erik Karlsson
Mario Ferraro — Jacob MacDonald
Henry Thrun – Radim Simek

Kaapo Kahkonen
James Reimer

Expected Scratches: None

Injured Reserve: Andreas Johnsson (undisclosed), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Luke Kunin (knee), Markus Nutivaara (lower body), Evgeny Svechnikov (lower body), Alexander Barabanov (lower body), Matt Benning (lower body), Oskar Lindblom (upper body)

Arizona Coyotes

STATS

Record: 27-36-13
Streak: L6
Goals Leader: Clayton Keller (36 G, 46 A)
Assists Leader: Clayton Keller (36 G, 46 A)
Power Play: 19.5%
Penalty Kill: 75.4%
Goals For/60: 2.76
Goals Against/60: 3.46

LINES
(Per NHL.com)

Clayton Keller – Barrett Hayton – Nick Schmaltz
Matias Maccelli – Jack McBain – Lawson Crouse
Liam O’Brien – Travis Boyd – Christian Fischer
Laurent Dauphin – Nathan Smith – Brett Ritchie

Juuso Valimaki – Josh Brown
Patrik Nemeth – J.J. Moser
Connor Mackey – Victor Soderstrom

Ivan Prosvetov
Connor Ingram

Expected Scratches: Milos Kelemen, Karel Vejmelka

Injured Reserve: Zack Kassian (upper body)

How to watch

Tonight’s game will be broadcast regionally on NBCSCA. Streaming is available with a subscription to ESPN+ (blackout restrictions may apply). The radio call will be streamed through the Sharks Audio Network. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona.

If you’re in the Tempe area, you can watch on Bally Sports AZ Extra and listen on ESPN 620AM.

Check back then to follow along with all of the play-by-play action in the comment section below!