The San Jose Sharks continue to wind down the season and tonight the team will face off against another team that’s likely to be cleaning out lockers in April, the Anaheim Ducks. While the Ducks are not mathematically out of the playoffs, it would take a miracle run and a lot of help from a lot of other teams for Anaheim to make the playoffs. That means the game tonight is about pride and not much else.
It’s been a while since these two teams have played one another. The last time they played was on Oct. 22 when the Sharks lost the game 3-1. The Sharks also lost on Oct. 12, 2-0. This is San Jose’s chance to avoid the series sweep.
The Ducks are a different team since those October meetings. The team traded Urho Vaakanainen to the New York Rangers in December for Jacob Trouba and then flipped Cam Fowler to the St. Louis BLues for defensive prospect Jeremie Biakabutuka.
The team added backup goaltender Ville Husso in February and made some moves at the trade deadline, sending Brian Dumoulin to the New Jersey Devils for a forward prospect and bringing in defenseman Oliver Kylington.
The Ducks top scorer is Troy Terry with 51 points in 68 games. Frank Vatrano, Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson are all tied for the team lead with 20 goals apiece. Interestingly, Carlsson, who was drafted third overall in 2023 has 40 points in 67 games, while Smith, who was drafted fourth overall in 2023 has 37 points in 65 games.
Lukas Dostal and John Gibson have been sharing the duties in the net. Dostal is expected to start in the net tonight for the Ducks.
San Jose Sharks lines tonight
According to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, “The Sleepover Line” will take the ice together to start the game. That’s Macklin Celebrini centering Smith and Tyler Toffoli. William Eklund will join Alex Wennberg and Collin Grad on the second line.
Earlier today, the Sharks returned Luca Cagnoni and Patrick Giles to the Barracuda and brought up Jack Thompson. That will also be reflected in the line up.
The #SJSharks have recalled D Jack Thompson from the @sjbarracuda.
— San Jose Sharks PR (@SanJoseSharksPR) March 31, 2025
D Luca Cagnoni and F Patrick Giles have been re-assigned to the Barracuda.
Forwards
Tyler Toffoli — Macklin Celebrini — Will Smith
Collin Graf — Alexander Wennberg — William Eklund
Carl Grundstrom — Ty Dellandrea — Cam Lund
Noah Gregor — Zack Ostapchuk — Barclay Goodrow
Defense
Mario Ferraro — Shakir Mukhamadullin
Lucas Carlsson — Timothy Liljegren
Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Jack Thompson
Goaltenders
Alexander Georgiev
Georgi Romanov
Anaheim Ducks lines vs. San Jose Sharks
Here’s what the lines are expected to look like tonight for the Ducks, according to NHL.com.
Forwards
Cutter Gauthier — Leo Carlsson — Alex Killorn
Frank Vatrano — Ryan Strome — Troy Terry
Trevor Zegras — Mason McTavish — Sam Colangelo
Jansen Harkins — Isac Lundestrom — Nikita Nesterenko
Defense
Jackson LaCombe — Radko Gudas
Olen Zellweger — Jacob Trouba
Pavel Mintyukov — Drew Helleson
Goaltenders
Lukas Dostal
John Gibson
How to watch San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks April 1, 2025
Sharks fans can watch the game on NBC Sports California Plus today because it’s baseball season, and for some reason, people still love the A’s. You can listen on the Sharks Audio Network.
Ducks fans can watch on the Victory channel or listen through the Ducks Stream.
The puck drops at 7 p.m. PT at Honda Center.
