Sharks vs. Wild preview: Surprise, it's another indoor game in Minnesota!

Struggling Wild host Sharks on second half of back-to-back.

One day after an exciting win over the Jets in Winnipeg, the Sharks are back in action against a free-falling Minnesota Wild team who have lost six of their last eight games, the latest being a 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Stars on Saturday. After entering the season with great expectations, they're currently seven points out of a playoff spot and will be looking to get back on track against the Sharks today.

Tale Of The Tape
San Jose Sharks

@

Minnesota Wild
21-14-5, 47 points
Record 18-5-4, 40 points
3rd in Pacific Rank 6th in Central
51.0%
Score-Adj. Fenwick 52.7%
99.1
PDO 98.4
21.4
PP% 15.1
80.9
PK% 84.2

5PM PST | Xcel Energy Center | St. Paul, Minnesota
TV: NBCSN | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: Hockey Wilderness, Hashtag Hockey

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 - Tye McGinn

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

Alex Stalock
Antti Niemi

Projected Wild Lineup

Zach Parise - Mikko Koivu - Jason Pominville
Thomas Vanek - Kyle Brodziak - Justin Fontaine
Jason Zucker - Charlie Coyle - Nino Niederreiter
Matt Cooke - Erik Haula - Ryan Carter

Ryan Suter - Jonas Brodin
Marco Scandella - Jared Spurgeon
Stu Bickel - Christian Folin

Darcy Kuemper
Niklas Backstrom

Last Meeting

Former Wild defenseman Brent Burns scored on the power play and Joe Pavelski added an even-strength tally as the Sharks defeated the Wild 2-1 at home in early December.

Storylines
  • Alex Stalock will get his first career start in his hometown of St. Paul.
  • Darcy Kuemper will face him for the Wild.
  • This will likely be the Sharks' final game with Joe Thornton the shelf as he's eligible to return to the lineup Thursday in St. Louis.