Another road trip begins as the San Jose Sharks head to Minnesota to face the Wild
We're closing in on the end of the 2023-24 season and the Sharks continue their run to the end of the year with a game against the Minnesota Wild in Minnesota
By Conor Power
Another road trip begins tonight as the San Jose Sharks prepare to head out east for a while. It'll be Xcel Energy Center in downtown St Paul, Minnesota, that hosts the Sharks as we see the two organizations clash for the second time this season. On March 3, the Wild were able to top the Sharks 4-3, so the Sharks will be looking for revenge tonight when the two teams meet again. There will be another game between these two teams before the end of the year.
San Jose will be looking to snap an eight-game skid against another team outside of the playoff picture. Minnesota is nine points out with a game in hand on the Vegas Golden Knights, who currently sit in the second wild-card spot. If the Wild want playoff hockey this year, they must pull a rabbit out of the hat. To do that, it would need to start with two points tonight against the Sharks. Can San Jose spoil the party?
San Jose currently sits 7 points adrift at the bottom of the standings. With 11 games left, they need eight more defeats to ensure they get the best odds at the first overall pick. Knowing there is still a long way left in the season and the Sharks can still mess that up, a loss tonight would knock that down to seven defeats needed. If they were able to achieve that, this would ensure the teal in teal the best odds at Macklin Celebrini.
Projected Lineups
San Jose Sharks
Klim Kostin - Mikael Granlund - Fabian Zetterlund
William Eklund - Luke Kunin - Alexander Barabanov
Thimas Bordeleau - Nico Sturm - Justin Bailey
Filip Zadina - Ryan Carpenter - Jacob MacDonald
Mario Ferraro - Kyle Burroughs
Henry Thrun - Jan Rutta
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Calen Addison
Mackenzie Blackwood
Devin Cooley
Minnesota Wild
Kirill Kaprizov - Joel Eriksson Ek - Matt Boldy
Marcus Johansson - Marco Rossi - Ryan Hartman
Mats Zucarello - Frederick Gaudreau - Marcus Foligno
Adam Beckman - Jake Lucchini - Vinni Letteri
Jacob Middleton - Brock Faber
Jonas Brodin - Zach Bogosian
Jon Merrill - Declan Chisholm
Filip Gustavsson
Marc-Andre Fleury
Puck Drop
This game is a 5 p.m. puck drop from Minnesota. Can the Sharks spoil the party for the Minnesota Wild's dim playoff hopes, or will the Wild help the Sharks edge closer to the best odds at Macklin Celebrini? San Jose will be pretty content with the result either way in this game as we prepare for another Sharks loss. This season has been so unforgiving, but this is another game where the Sharks could see this as a winnable matchup.