The San Jose Sharks have embarked on the team’s final road trip of the season, a four game tour that will take the team through Alberta and British Columbia before returning home for the final game of the season. But before the Sharks pay a visit to our friends in the North, the team needs to make a quick stop in Minnesota to see what kind of trouble it can play for postseason hopefuls the Minnesota Wild.
The Wild currently hold the second wild card spot in the Western Conference, but only lead the Calgary Flames by four points in the wild card race. What’s more, Calgary has a game in hand. If the Sharks beat the Wild tonight, it could make the race a bit more interesting and possibly give the Flames an opening to sneak into the playoffs.
It’s Prince night in Minnesota, meaning the team is celebrating Minnesota native Prince with these jerseys for people who buy ticket packages.
The Wild definitely got the look with this one.
As for what’s happening on the ice, keep an eye on Matt Boldy. He leads the team with 67 points in 78 games. He also leads with 26 goals. This is mostly because the team has been without star forward Kirill Kaprizov for half of the season. Kaprizov hasn’t played since the Christmas break when he had surgery to repair a lower-body injury. While the forward is taking contact in practice, it’s still too early to tell if he’ll play tonight against the Sharks.
The Wild might also be without center Joel Eriksson Ek, who has missed more than 30 games with an injury of his own. Eriksson Ek is also back, practicing with the team and taking contact after an injury in February.
Here’s to hoping that Marc-Andre Fleury gets the start in this one since it’s likely the final game he’ll ever play against the Sharks. Fleury is expected to retire at the end of this season whether the Wild make it to the playoffs or not. Fleury has played a backup role this season but is 12-9-1 with a 2.78 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.
The last time these two teams played one another was on Jan. 11, when the Wild won 3-1. They also played on Nov. 7, 2024 when the Wild won 5-2.
San Jose Sharks lines tonight
Forward Collin Graf was sent down to the San Jose Barracuda before the road trip, likely more to help the Barracuda get ready for a playoff push than because of anything he did. The Barracuda have not officially clinched a playoff spot yet, though the team is sixth in the Pacific Division and the top seven teams make it.
With Graf out, Tyler Toffoli is expected to be healthy enough to play; Alexandar Georgiev gets the start tonight according to NHL.com.
Forwards
Nikolai Kovalenko — Macklin Celebrini — Will Smith
William Eklund — Alexander Wennberg — Tyler Toffoli
Noah Gregor — Ty Dellandrea — Cam Lund
Barclay Goodrow — Zack Ostapchuk — Carl Grundstrom
Defense
Mario Ferraro — Timothy Liljegren
Lucas Carlsson — Henry Thrun
Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Jack Thompson
Goaltenders
Alexandar Georgiev
Georgi Romanov
Minnesota Wild lines vs. San Jose Sharks
As for the Wild, here’s what Minnesota Wild beat writer Jessi Pierce reports the lines will look like. Just the Sharks’ luck that both Eriksson Ek and Kaprizov are expected to return.
Forwards
Matt Boldy – Joel Eriksson Ek – Marcus Foligno
Kirill Kaprizov – Marco Rossi – Mats Zucarello
Marcus Johansson – Frederick Gaudreau – Gustav Nyquist
Yakov Trenin – Ryan Hartman – Justin Brazeau
Defense
Jonas Brodin – Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm – Jared Spurgeon
Jon Merrill – Zach Bogosian
Goaltenders
Marc-Andre Fleury
Filip Gustavsson
How to watch Sharks at Wild April 8, 2025
Sharks fans can watch the game on NBC Sports California or listen on the Sharks Audio Network.
Wild fans can watch the game on FDSN.
The puck drops at 5:00 p.m. PT/7:00 p.m. CT at Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota.
