Blades of Teal
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San Jose Sharks Trek Into the Wild to Face-Off Against Minnesota

By Lucas Burrell

ST. PAUL, MN - DECEMBER 18: Eric Staal #12 of the Minnesota Wild skates with the puck as Joe Pavelski #8 of the San Jose Sharks gives chase during a game at Xcel Energy Center on December 18, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. PAUL, MN - DECEMBER 18: Eric Staal #12 of the Minnesota Wild skates with the puck as Joe Pavelski #8 of the San Jose Sharks gives chase during a game at Xcel Energy Center on December 18, 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota.(Photo by Bruce Kluckhohn/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The San Jose Sharks take their 4 game win streak on the road against the Minnesota Wild at the Excel Energy Center. This game will allow Team Teal to retake first in a tight Pacific Division race.

The Minnesota Wild are playing for their playoff lives battling with a handful of teams for one of the two wildcard spots in the Western Conference. The San Jose Sharks will be in be in for a tough match up against a revamped Wild roster.

This game carries a lot of weight considering Joe Thornton has the opportunity to overtake Stan Mikita for sole possession of 14th all time on the all time points list. It’s not far-fetched  considering Jumbo has been on a ridiculous point pace lately scoring 9 in his last 10 games.

The San Jose Sharks are coming off an emotional overtime win against St. Louis and with a win this evening in St. Paul they will have their 4th 5 game winning streak of this impressive season. This team has been able to do this despite being without two of their best players Evander Kane and Erik Karlsson.

In their absences players like Brent Burns, Timo Meier, and Marcus Sorensen have really elevated their game it’s allowed the Sharks to score at least 3 goals in all 4 of their games during the home stand.

It appears that the San Jose Sharks will be trotting out the same line up as their previous game against the St. Louis blues here’s how the line-ups shake out for both teams.

San Jose Sharks

Forward Combinations

Timo Meier ~ Logan Couture ~ Joe Pavelski

Joonas Donskoi ~ Tomas Hertl ~ Gustav Nyquist

Marcus Sorensen~ Joe Thornton ~ Kevin Labanc

Micheal Haley ~ Barclay Goodrow ~ Melker Karlsson

Defensive Pairings

Radim Simek ~ Brent Burns

Marc-Edouard ~ Tim Heed

Brendan Dillon ~ Justin Braun

Goalie

Projected Starter ~Martin Jones

Backup ~ Aaron Dell

Minnesota Wild

Forward Combinations

Jordan Greenway ~ Eric Staal ~ Jason Zucker

Zach Parise ~ Victor Rask  ~Kevin Fiala

Ryan Donato ~ Joel Eriksson Ek ~ Pontus Aberg

Marcus Foligno ~ Eric Fehr ~ J. T. Brown

Defensive Pairings

Ryan Suter ~ Jared Spurgeon

Jonas Brodin ~ Brad Hunt

Greg Pateryn ~Anthony Bitetto

Goalie

Projected Starter ~ Devin Dubnyk

Backup ~ Alex Stalock

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Puck drop for tonight’s game is at 5:00 PM PT live at the Excel Energy Center. The game is televised on NBCSCA and the audio is streamed via the San Jose Sharks official app courtesy of 98.5 KFOX

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