On the back of that dynamic win over the Seattle Kraken in explosive fashion, the San Jose Sharks travel to the Emerald City to face the Kaken once more in the second leg of this home-and-home back-to-back. The 8-5 win the Sharks enjoyed on Black Friday is irrelevant leading into this one as the young Sharks look to continue the good feelings. If they can continue to score like that, they'll give themselves a chance to get the win.
It won't be as easy for Team Teal as the Kraken make the rotation from Philipp Grubauer to Joey Daccord ahead of the clash from Climate Pledge Arena. While the Sharks had some scoring fun on the Geman netminder, the American is more stingy, often holding the Kraken in games they shouldn't be in. Continuing to score at the same rate on Daccord could be the key to picking up the two points.
San Jose is also expected to rotate in between the pipes. Vitek Vanecek gave up five goals and won in the first leg of this battle, but the second one will hand the reigns over to Mackenzie Blackwood. Blackwood was unfairly blamed by some for the Senators' loss when he only faced 11 shots, but there wasn't much he could do on any of the four goals. He'll give the Sharks a chance, but they must play defense before him.
Projected Lineups
San Jose Sharks
William Eklund - Macklin Celebrini - Fabian Zetterlund
Tyler Toffoli - Alex Wennberg - Mikael Granlund
Klim Kostin - Nico Sturm - Wlll Smith
Luke Kunin - Ty Dellandrea - Ethan Cardwell
Jake Walman - Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro - Timothy Liljegren
Henry Thrun - Jan Rutta
Mackenzie Blackwood
Vitek Vanecek
Seattle Kraken
Jared McCann - Matty Berniers - Andre Burakovsky
Jaden Schwartz - Chandler Stephenson - Daniel Sprong
Eeli Tolvanen - Shane Wright - Oliver Bjorkstrand
Tye Kartye - Yanni Gourde - Brandon Tanev
Ryker Evans - Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak - Brandon Montour
Josh Mahura - Will Borgen
Joey Daccord
Philipp Grubauer
Puck Drop
Yesterday's mayhem matinee will be followed up by a more traditional 7 p.m. puck drop from Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. San Jose looks to build upon last night's win by stringing together another long winning streak, but the Kraken will not roll over and die. This will be a fight between two teams that need the points to return to the postseason.