WTWF: Sharks Look to Keep Their Winning Streak Alive in the Desert

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.

More from Blades of Teal

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.

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