Team Teal is coming off an impressive 5 – 2 victory over the Penguins. Tonight they trek through the desert for a scrap against the Coyotes for the 2nd part of their back to back. The Sharks believe they have enough in the tank to fend off this desperate Arizona team.
The San Jose Sharks head into tonight’s game holding a 3 – 5 record in the second game of their back a backs during the 2018 – 2019 campaign. However this time they’re coming off a dominating performance over Pittsburgh at the SAP Center. Tomas Hertl put together his second career hat trick in a teal sweater. The Sharks will be focused on extending their win streak to 8 games against a Yotes squad looking for a statement victory against a division rival.
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Team Teal hasn’t had the best luck in back to back contest this season, but they have been playing their best hockey of late. During their 7 game win streak they’ve outscored their opponents 32 – 14. They’ve also controlled the dangerous areas on the ice; while doing so they are converting on the good looks they have at the opponents netminder. During their win streak they’ve been taking advantage of most of their chances, they dominate the league in HDGF maintaining a 70% clip during that span
The Coyotes are well rested with their last game being on Sunday. The San Jose Sharks need to jump on them early so they don’t have to grind out a victory in the third period against their division rival; however that’s easier said than done against a Coyotes squad who’s surprisingly still in a playoff spot. Their being kept alive by the play from Alex Galchenyuk who has 12 points in his last 10 contests.
Arizona is 5 – 4 – 1 in their last 10 games and recently beat Team Teal in a shoot out on December 23rd at the SAP Center. Expect a different result tonight considering the Sharks are playing their best hockey lately.
A few specific Sharks have been really propelling them forward during their win streak, expect them to continue their strong play tonight at the Gila River Arena.
Sharks Smelling Blood in the Water
San Jose Sharks blue liner Brent Burns continues to pad his Norris Trophy odds scoring 12 points during Team Teals previous 7 games. Also during that span forward Evander Kane has produce 11 points, scoring 5 goals. His aggressive style of play has generated 4 individual zone rushes and 6 created rebounds; both stats lead the team during the win streak. Watch for these two skaters to perpetuate their strong play through this second game of their back to back.
Projected lineups for the Team Teal:
Marcus Sorensen ~ Joe Thornton ~ Joe Pavelski
Lukas Radil ~ Logan Couture ~ Timo Meier
Evander Kane ~ Tomas Hertl ~ Joonas Donskoi
Melker Karlsson ~ Barclay Goodrow ~ Kevin Labanc
Radim Simek ~ Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon ~ Erik Karlsson
Tim Heed ~ Justin Braun
Starter: Aaron Dell, Backup: Martin Jones
Projected Lines for the Yotes
Clayton Keller ~ Jordan Weal ~ Christian Fischer
Richard Panik ~ Derek Stepan ~ Vinnie Hinostroza
Alex Galchenyuk ~ Nick Cousins ~ Conor Garland
Lawson Crouse ~ Mario Kempe ~ Josh Archibald
OEL ~ Nik Hjalmarsson
Jakob Chychrun ~ Ilya Lyubushkin
Jordan Oesterle ~ Alex Goligoski
Starter: Darcy Kuemper, Backup: Calvin Pickard
Puck drop tonight at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, AZ is at 7:00 PM. The game will be broadcasted on NBCSN, and also through the Sharks app via 98.5 KFOX.
All statistics in this article were provided by naturalstattrick.com unless stated otherwise.