San Jose Sharks Move Onto New Jersey to Play the Devils
By Conor Power
It’s another game day for the San Jose Sharks after their defeat in Boston last night. This time, the New Jersey Devils will provide the opposition for the organization as they look to get their first road win of the season after being knocked down to 0-10 on the season against the Bruins. It doesn’t get any easier as now the resurgent Devils will provide the opposition for San Jose tonight.
It’ll be Kaapo Kahkonen between the pipes tonight after MacKenzie Blackwood was tasked with slowing down the Boston Bruins. Kahkonen has a .889 save percentage and a 4.12 goals-against average. This has been a less-than-spectacular start to the season for Kahkonen, but if the Sharks can get him to play himself into a good place, they might be able to get something for this player at the deadline.
We will get to see Nikita Okhotiuk against the team that drafted him. Fabian Zetterlund and MacKenzie Blackwood will also be making returns to the Prudential Center. Timo Meier might be in the Devils’ lineup, but we will definitely see former Shark Chris Tierney tonight. With a lot of former players of both organizations on the ice for the other team, there’s sure to be a few narratives out there tonight proven right.
Projected Lineups
San Jose Sharks
Fabian Zetterlund – Mikael Granlund – Anthony Duclair
William Eklund – Luke Kunin – Mike Hoffman
Jacob MacDonald – Nico Sturm – Justin Bailey
Givani Smith – Ryan Carpenter – Kevin Labanc
Mario Ferraro – Ty Emberson
Calen Addison – Matt Benning
Nikita Okhotiuk – Kyle Burroughs
Kaapo Kahkonen
Mackenzie Blackwood
New Jersey Devils
Tyler Toffoli – Jack Hughes – Dawson Mercer
Ondrej Palat – Nico Hischier – Jesper Bratt
Curtis Lazar – Michael McLeod – Alexander Holtz
Samuel Laberge – Chris Tierney – Nathan Bastian
Jonas Siegenthaler – Luke Hughes
Kevin Bahl – John Marino
Brendan Smith – Colin Miller
Vitek Vanecek
Akira Schmid
This will be a 4 p.m. Pacific puck drop as the Sharks look to get their first road win on the season. This is the kind of game where they sneak it in, too. The Sharks have more to offer than their record suggests, and the Devils have seen themselves slip up a few times throughout the season. Getting on the right side of a win tonight could see some improvements moving forward for the roster.