Sharks vs. Canadiens preview: Stalock starting, Smith could make debut
Newly-acquired Hawks forward expected to make it to San Jose in time for tonight's contest.
Four players who were on the Sharks' roster during their loss to Ottawa on Saturday--James Sheppard, Tyler Kennedy, Tye McGinn and Andrew Desjardins--are no longer in San Jose's employ and won't be playing tonight when San Jose hosts the Canadiens with their ever-dwindling playoff hopes on the line. Ben Smith, acquired in the Desjardins deal, is expected to make it to the Bay Area in time while Chris Tierney was recalled from Worcester to take the other freed-up forward slot.
Tale Of The Tape
 | @ |  |
| 41-16-5, 87 points | Record | 30-25-8, 68 points |
| 1st in Atlantic | Rank | 5th in Pacific |
| 50.3% | Score-Adj. Fenwick | 49.3% |
| 102.0 | PDO | 99.1 |
| 16.5 | PP% | 20.9 |
| 86.0 | PK% | 79.5 |
7PM PST | SAP Center | San Jose, California
TV: CSNCA-HD | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: Habs Eyes On The Prize
Projected Sharks Lineup
Joe Pavelski - Joe Thornton - Melker Karlsson
Patrick Marleau - Logan Couture - Matt Nieto
Tomas Hertl - Chris Tierney - Tommy Wingels
John Scott - Ben Smith - Barclay Goodrow
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon - Justin Braun
Matt Irwin - Scott Hannan
Alex Stalock
Antti Niemi
Projected Canadiens Lineup
Max Pacioretty - David Desharnais - Brendan Gallagher
Lars Eller - Tomas Plekanec - Alex Galchenyuk
Brandon Prust - Jacob De La Rose - Devante Smith-Pelly
Michael Bournival - Manny Malhotra - Dale Weise
Andrei Markov - P.K. Subban
Nathan Beaulieu - Tom Gilbert
Sergei Gonchar - Jeff Petry
Carey Price
Dustin Tokarski
Last Meeting
Tommy Wingels scored twice, Matt Nieto and Logan Couture added goals and Antti Niemi posted a 27-save shutout as the Sharks defeated the Canadiens at home by a 4-0 score almost a year ago, on March 8th, 2014..
Storylines
- Montreal was busy today too, acquiring defenseman Jeff Petry from the Edmonton Oilers for a pair of draft picks and adding depth forward Brian Flynn from Buffalo. Petry is expected to make the flight down from Edmonton in time for tonight's game.
- Remember yesterday when Doug Wilson said James Sheppard was traded so that Tomas Hertl could play center? Yeah, Hertl isn't playing center tonight. Sounds like Wilson and McLellan are definitely on the same page here.
- Stalock gets the start with the Sharks on the front half of a back-to-back, playing a huge game tomorrow in Vancouver./