Golden Knights at Sharks: Lines, gamethread, and where to watch
A clash of the best in the West could be a playoff preview.
The Vegas Golden Knights roll into town tonight where the San Jose Sharks are looking to gain ground in the race to the top of the Pacific Division. Tensions will be high, as Vegas is heating up at the right time, ready to make their second Stanley Cup run in their second year as a franchise.
The Sharks are coming in fresh off a 4-2 loss to the Nashville Predators. With Evander Kane slotting back into the lineup, Head Coach Pete DeBoer chose to scratch Joonas Donskoi against the Predators, to much controversy. There are still game-time decisions to be made, so it’s unclear so far if he intends to make the same decision tonight against an equally threatening Vegas offense.
A 6-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers last night has the Golden Knight feeling good coming into SAP Center, though the lack of rest may catch up to them. They’ll also be without starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who has been listed day-to-day with a lower body injury.
Finally, as long as the Sharks take at least one point from tonight’s game, they’ll officially qualify for the post-season.
Lines
Sharks
The #SJSharks have some game time decisions, so these lines are all projected. pic.twitter.com/XnIGTcPmX5
— Fear the Swedes 👑👑👑 (@fearthefin) March 18, 2019
Expected Scratches: Jacob Middleton, Lukas Radil, Joonas Donskoi (healthy)
Injured: Erik Karlsson (groin)
Golden Knights
Jonathan Marchessault — William Karlsson — Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty — Paul Stastny — Mark Stone
Tomas Nosek — Cody Eakin — Alex Tuch
Ryan Carpenter — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Ryan Reaves
Nate Schmidt — Deryk Engelland
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Jon Merrill — Colin Miller
Malcolm Subban
Maxime Lagace
Expected Scratches: Valentin Zykov, Nick Holden, Brandon Pirri
Injured: Erik Haula (lower body), William Carrier (upper body), Marc-Andre Fleury (lower body)
Where to Watch
Puck drop from SAP Center is at 7:30 p.m. Pacific/10:30 p.m. Eastern and will be broadcast on NBC Sports California in the Bay Area market and on AT&T SportsNet in the Vegas market. Radio streaming will be available on 98.5 KFOX and the Sharks app.
We won’t be able to liveblog with you tonight, but check the comment section for live updates and reactions!