As far as “trap games” go, this one seems particularly dangerous for a team that’s fallen into more than their fair share already this season. Fresh off three invigorating victories over some of the best teams in the NHL in Los Angeles, Anaheim and Chicago, the Sharks conclude their seven-game homestand tonight by hosting the last-place Edmonton Oilers. Given San Jose’s propensity for playing up or down to the level of their competition, beating a hapless Edmonton squad might prove more difficult than downing the Blackhawks or Ducks. It’s no less important though as these are the kinds of gimme points the Sharks will need down the stretch.

Tale Of The Tape

	@
13-28-9, 35 points	Record	27-17-6, 60 points
7th in Pacific	Rank	2nd in Pacific
47.2%	Score-Adj. Fenwick	50.6%
97.4	PDO	99.1
13.3	PP%	21.0
79.7	PK%	81.9

7:30PM PST | SAP Center | San Jose, California
TV: CSNCA-HD | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: The Copper & Blue, Cult Of Hockey, Oilers Nation

Projected Sharks Lineup

Joe Pavelski – Joe Thornton – Melker Karlsson
Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Matt Nieto
Tomas Hertl – James Sheppard – Barclay Goodrow
John Scott – Andrew Desjardins – Tyler Kennedy

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

Antti Niemi
Alex Stalock

Projected Oilers Lineup

Benoit Pouliot – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Nail Yakupov – Derek Roy – Teddy Purcell
Rob Klinkhammer – Boyd Gordon – Matt Hendricks
Luke Gazdic – Anton Lander – Matt Fraser

Andrew Ference – Jeff Petry
Oscar Klefbom – Justin Schultz
Keith Aulie – Mark Fayne

Ben Scrivens
Viktor Fasth

Last Meeting

Matt Tennyson scored his first NHL goal and Barclay Goodrow cashed in on a third period breakaway to lead the Sharks to a 4-3 come-from-behind win over Edmonton on December 18th.

Storylines

• After missing the Sharks’ first two games after the All-Star Break, Tyler Kennedy will draw back into the lineup tonight in place of Tye McGinn who’s out with an injury after “crashing into the boards” against the Blackhawks according to Todd McLellan.
• Taylor Hall, arguably the Oilers’ most valuable player, is still recovering from a bone bruise suffered during Edmonton’s first post-All-Star break practice and isn’t expected to play tonight.
• A win tonight would put the Sharks five points up on third-place Vancouver./