The San Jose Sharks wrap up the road trip in Edmonton tonight and if there’s one game on the trip that’s more important than the rest, it’s this one. The Sharks prepare to take on a Leon Draisaitl-less Oilers team that’s fighting for a spot in the playoffs as well. This is one of those four point swing games, which means a win tonight puts the Sharks in an even better position to stay not only in the wild card race, but also to potentially jump into the Pacific Division race.
This is the third of four meetings between the two teams. The Sharks won the last meeting, 5-4 in regulation on Feb. 28. On Jan. 29, while San Jose lost, it still got a point, falling 4-3 in overtime. A win tonight would put them ahead for good in the season series. The two teams play once more after tonight, on April 8 in San Jose.
Connor McDavid leads the team with 114 points, he’s also the team leader with 37 goals. Leon Draisaitl is just behind McDavid with 97 points and 35 goals, but it was announced earlier today that Draisaitl is out for the rest of the season with a lower body injury. That should help the Sharks tonight, since Edmonton will be without one of its biggest scoring threats.
Draisaitl and McDavid are especially dangerous on the power play together. In fact, the entire team operates at 31.9% more than 3/4 into the season. While taking Draisaitl off the top unit will do a bit to neutralize the threat, Edmonton still has Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zack Hyman, making it a dangerous group. The best plan is to stay out of the box entirely.
In the net for the Oilers, there’s Tristan Jarry and Connor Ingram. Jarry has had a tough go of it and is 7-6-1 with a .855 save percentage. Ingram is doing better with a 10-6-2 record and .895 save percentage.
San Jose Sharks lines tonight
On the Sharks side of things, San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng reports that Nick Leddy will play instead of Shakir Mukhamadullin today. Alex Wennberg is a game time decision. Igor Chernyshov and Yaroslav Askarov still aren’t ready to play.
As a result of all that, here’s what we think the lines will look like with Alex Nedeljkovic in the net.
Forwards
Collin Graf — Macklin Celebrini — Will Smith
Pavol Regenda — Alexander Wennberg — Kiefer Sherwood
William Eklund — Michael Misa — Tyler Toffoli
Barclay Goodrow — Zack Ostapchuk — Adam Gaudette
Defense
Dmitry Orlov — John Klingberg
Mario Ferraro — Nick Leddy
Sam Dickinson — Vincent Desharnais
Goaltenders
Alex Nedeljkovic
Laurent Brossoit
Edmonton Oilers lines vs. San Jose Sharks
Without Draisaitl the Oilers are running thin up front and the team will lean even more heavily on McDavid for its offense. According to NHL.com, here are the projected lines. It looks like Ingram will start in the net for the Oilers.
Forwards
Matthew Savoie — Connor McDavid — Zach Hyman
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Jason Dickinson — Jack Roslovic
Vasily Podkolzin — Josh Samanski — Kasperi Kapanen
Max Jones — Adam Henrique — Trent Frederic
Defense
Mattias Ekholm — Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse — Connor Murphy
Jake Walman — Spencer Stastney
Goaltenders
Connor Ingram
Tristan Jarry
How to watch San Jose Sharks at Edmonton Oilers, March 17, 2026
The puck drops at 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
Sharks fans can watch today’s game on NBCSCA or listen on the Sharks Audio Network.
Oilers fans can watch the game on Sportsnet West.
Be sure to come back here at game time and talk with other Sharks fans about what’s happening on the ice and around the league. The Nashville Predators, Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights are all in action tonight.
