In their final road game of the month, just prior to a seven-game homestand that figures to be a significant factor in whether or not San Jose will make the playoffs this year, the Sharks will travel to Arizona tonight for their first time this season following a 4-3 shootout defeat at home against the Coyotes just prior to Thanksgiving. Arizona has struggled mightily this season, currently sitting 27th in the NHL with 36 points and a minus-39 goal differential. Mike Smith, signed to a long-term contract extension last summer, has been abysmal with a .885 save percentage in 27 starts. The Coyotes also largely lack high-end forward talent in the light of Radim Vrbata’s departure to Vancouver. Still, with Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Keith Yandle in tow, Arizona’s blueline is as good as any in the Pacific and this should be a decent test for a Sharks team looking to gain ground on the Kings and Canucks.

Tale Of The Tape

	@
22-16-5, 49 points	Record	16-21-4, 36 points
4th in Pacific	Rank	6th in Pacific
50.4%	Score-Adj. Fenwick	47.5%
98.5	PDO	97.7
20.9	PP%	21.8
80.7	PK%	74.6

6PM PST | Gila River Arena | Glendale, Arizona
TV: CSNCA-HD | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: Hockey Wilderness, Hashtag Hockey

Projected Sharks Lineup

Patrick Marleau – Joe Thornton – Matt Nieto
Logan Couture – Joe Pavelski – Melker Karlsson
Tomas Hertl – James Sheppard – Tommy Wingels
Tye McGinn – Andrew Desjardins – Barclay Goodrow

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

Antti Niemi
Alex Stalock

Projected Coyotes Lineup

Martin Erat – Antoine Vermette – Shane Doan
Lucas Lessio – Sam Gagner – Mikkel Boedker
Tobias Rieder – Kyle Chipchura – Lauri Korpikoski
Brandon McMillan – Joe Vitale – David Moss

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Michael Stone
Keith Yandle – Chris Summers
Brandon Gormley – Connor Murphy

Devan Dubnyk
Mike Smith

Last Meeting

In a back-and-forth affair, Andrew Desjardins scored his first goal of the season and Tommy Wingels added a shorthanded marker as the Sharks came back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits en route to what was ultimately a shootout loss on home ice as Antoine Vermette sealed the game for the Coyotes in the skills competition.

Storylines

• Devan Dubnyk, who stopped 40 of 43 shots the last time these teams met, will be in net for Arizona.
• While the Coyotes are 5-5-0 in their last ten games, when they’ve lost of late they’ve lost big: Arizona has suffered a 5-1 loss to Ottawa, a 6-0 loss to the Blues, a 6-0 loss to Dallas and a 7-1 loss to Vancouver over that span.
• Melker Karlsson can break Jeff Friesen’s franchise rookie goal-scoring streak record of five games with a goal tonight./