As NHL fans we’re actually pretty lucky that our preseason doesn’t stretch on for what feels like endless months of camps and games that don’t mean a damn thing. Still, we’re just five days away from the start of the regular NHL season and I’m ready to put these fake games with their fake overtimes and fake players behind us.

Oh, right, and that’s not to mention the lack of televised action. The battle for the final few roster spots is about as hot as it’s going to get and we, unfortunately, won’t have much of an opportunity to see it. Still, here’s what’s happening tonight.

Tale Of The Tape

	@
3-1-1	Preseason Record	0-4-1
5th in Pacific	Last Season’s Rank	7th in Pacific
51.2%	Last Season’s Score-Adj. Fenwick	46.8%
99.3	Last Season’s PDO	97.2
21.6	Last Season’s PP%	20.0
78.5	Last Season’s PK%	76.7

7PM PDT | Jobing.com Arena | Glendale, Arizona
TV: None | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: Five For Howling

Projected Sharks Lineup

Joonas Donskoi – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski

Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Joel Ward

Tommy Wingels – Tomas Hertl – Matt Nieto

Mike Brown – Chris Tierney – Barclay Goodrow

Paul Martin – Brent Burns

Marc Edouard-Vlasic – Justin Braun

Brenden Dillon – Matt Tennyson

Martin Jones

Alex Stalock

Projected Coyotes Lineup

TBA

Last Meeting

The Sharks lost to the Coyotes. This one is probably better off not being remembered.

Storylines

• The competition for the final two spots on defense is heating up.
• Is Joonas Donskoi going to stick around? How about Nikolay Goldobin?
• Will Arizona win any games this season? (Okay, just making sure you’re paying attention)/