The San Jose Sharks (29-33-4, 6th Pacific) take on the Minnesota Wild (33-26-7, 5th Central) in the third and final meeting between these two teams this season. The Sharks, while mathematically still in it, are out of the playoff picture. The Wild are right in the thick of it, just one point out of the first and second wild card spots.
But you wouldn’t know that looking at the season series. The Sharks won the first two games by the scores of 6-5 and 2-0.
If there’s a guy you want to watch out for on the Wild it’s Kevin Fiala. According to our friends at Hockey Wilderness, Fiala is en fuego. Fiala has five straight, multi-point games. He has 11 points in total (5 goals, 6 assists) and they’re spread out evenly over the five games. His play was enough to earn him the NHL’s first star of the week.
Feeding Fiala on most nights is veteran defenseman Ryan Suter. He leads the team with 38 assists.
In goal for the Wild, a familiar face. Former Shark Alex Stalock has played himself into the starting role.
Lines
SHARKS
Don’t expect any changes for the Sharks. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Scratched: Lean Bergmann, Alexander True
Injured: Tomas Hertl (knee), Jacob Middleton (ankle), Dalton Prout (concussion), Erik Karlsson (broken thumb)
WILD
As for the Wild, this is what NHL.com predicts we’ll see.
Forwards
Zach Parise – Luke Kunin – Kevin Fiala
Gerald Mayhew – Joel Eriksson Ek – Jordan Greenway
Marcus Foligno – Alex Galchenyuk – Mats Zuccarello
Ryan Donato – Mikko Koivu – Ryan Hartman
Defense
Ryan Suter – Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin – Matt Dumba
Brad Hunt – Greg Pateryn
Goalies
Alex Stalock
Devan Dubnyk
Scratched : Eric Staal, Matt Bartkowski, Victor Rask
Injured: Carson Soucy (upper body)
Where to watch
Puck drop from SAP Center is at 7:30 PT/10:30 ET. Tonight’s broadcast will be available on NBC Sports California in the Bay Area and on Fox Sports North in the Minnesota area. Streaming will be available on NHLtv.
There will be a radio call on 98.5 KFOX tonight. You can still listen to the game live over the Sharks + SAP Center app.
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