The San Jose Sharks welcome the Minnesota Wild to the Shark Tank today, hoping to sweep the season series. It’s a much different Wild team than the Sharks have played in the past two outings. The Sharks won the previous two meetings, though both of those happened before the Quinn Hughes trade. San Jose won 6-5 in overtime on Oct. 26 and 2-1 in overtime on Nov. 11.
But now, the Wild have one of the best defensemen in the world in Hughes. Since acquiring Hughes on Dec. 12, the Wild have gone 7-1-1. Hughes has seven points in eight games with the Wild.
Amazingly, he went from the top scorer on the Vancouver Canucks to the fourth best scorer on the Wild. Minnesota has a lot more firepower. Matt Boldy and Kirill Kaprizov are tied for the team lead with 47 points. Marcus Johansson has 32 points and Hughes has 30 points. Boldy leads the team with 25 goals.
While the Wild are the third best team in the Central Division, that’s honestly a testament to how difficult the division is than anything else. Minnesota is also the third best team in the league, meaning this will be a difficult test for the Sharks, which struggled against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night. San Jose will need to play with a much better structure and tighter defense today if the team even wants a chance today.
Minnesota is relatively healthy. Defenseman Daemon Hunt is the only player on the injured reserve at the moment. Meantime, the Sharks are dealing with a ton of injuries. While Will Smith and Philipp Kurashev both skated yesterday, they’re not expected to play anytime soon. Vincent Desharnais and Timothy Liljegren were also spotted on the ice, but isn’t expected to play. Adam Gaudette was banged up last game and Pavol Regenda was called up from the Barracuda. Don’t be surprised if he plays today.
San Jose Sharks lines today
With all of that in mind, NHL.com projects that Regenda will sub in for Gaudette and there will be no other changes. Shakir Mukhamadullin was not on the ice for practice, but was considered day-to-day. If he can’t play, we expect that Nick Leddy will play.
Forwards
William Eklund — Macklin Celebrini — Igor Chernyshov
Collin Graf — Alexander Wennberg — Tyler Toffoli
Jeff Skinner — Ty Dellandrea — Pavol Regenda
Barclay Goodrow — Zack Ostapchuk — Ryan Reaves
Defense
Dmitry Orlov — John Klingberg
Mario Ferraro — Shakir Mukhamadullin
Sam Dickinson — Vincent Iorio
Goaltenders
Yaroslav Askarov
Alex Nedeljkovic
Minnesota Wild lines today vs. San Jose Sharks
With the early start time, there’s not expected to be a morning skate. Here’s what NHL.com reports the Wild lines will likely look like today.
Forwards
Kirill Kaprizov — Danila Yurov – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson — Joel Eriksson Ek — Matt Boldy
Vinnie Hinostroza — Ryan Hartman– Vladimir Tarasenko
Marcus Foligno — Nico Sturm – Yakov Trenin
Defense
Quinn Hughes — Brock Faber
Jonas Brodin — Jared Spurgeon
Jake Middleton — Zach Bogosian
Goaltenders
Filip Gustavsson
Jesper Wallstedt
How to watch Minnesota Wild at San Jose Sharks
The puck drops at 1 p.m. PT/3 p.m. CT at SAP Center in San Jose.
Sharks fans can watch tonight’s game on NBCSCA or listen on the Sharks Audio Network.
Wild fans can watch on Fan Duel Sports Network Wisconsin or Fan Duel Sports Network North.
If you’re not headed to the game, be sure to come back here at game time to talk to other Sharks fans about what’s happening on the ice and around the league.
Wishing you a safe and happy new year from all of here at Fear the Fin!
