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Sharks vs. Blues preview: Thornton on ice for morning skate

Having spent seven days on injured reserve, Joe Thornton is eligible to return to the lineup tonight when the Sharks take on the Blues in St. Louis, hoping to avenge their 7-2 loss on home ice just five days ago. San Jose’s number one center was on the ice for the team’s morning skate today but didn’t participate in line rushes so it’s still unclear whether he’ll actually draw in for the game. Regardless, and despite being routed by the Blues earlier in the week, the Sharks went 12-1-4 in the final seventeen games of the season’s first half and hope to carry that level of performance past the midpoint.

Tale Of The Tape

San Jose Sharks

@

St. Louis Blues
21-14-5, 49 points
Record 24-13-3, 51 points
3rd in Central Rank 3rd in Pacific
51.0%
Score-Adj. Fenwick 53.1%
99.1
PDO 100.8
20.7
PP% 25.7
81.2
PK% 79.6

5PM PST | Scottrade Center | St. Louis, Missouri
TV: CSNCA-HD | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: St. Louis Game Time

Projected Sharks Lineup

Logan Couture – Joe Pavelski – Melker Karlsson
Barclay Goodrow – Patrick Marleau – Tommy Wingels
Tomas Hertl – James Sheppard – Matt Nieto
John Scott – Andrew Desjardins – Freddie Hamilton

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Justin Braun
Matt Irwin – Matt Tennyson

Antti Niemi
Alex Stalock

Projected Blues Lineup

Alexander Steen – David Backes – T.J. Oshie
Jaden Schwartz – Jori Lehtera – Vladimir Tarasenko
Patrik Berglund – Paul Stastny – Dmitrij Jaskin
Steve Ott – Maxim Lapierre – Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester – Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson – Kevin Shattenkirk
Barret Jackman – Ian Cole

Brian Elliott
Martin Brodeur

Last Meeting

T.J. Oshie scored a hat trick as the Blues routed the Sharks 7-2 at the Tank on Saturday in San Jose’s first game of the 2015 calendar year. Antti Niemi was pulled after allowing five goals on 24 shots.

Storylines
  • The same lines that Todd McLellan deployed in Minnesota took line rushes this morning so if Thornton can’t go, that configuration is what we’re likely to see tonight.
  • Brian Elliott, who beat the Sharks on Saturday, will be in net for the Blues once again.
  • After routing the Sharks 7-2, the Blues flew into Arizona and beat the Coyotes 6-0./
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