Your San Jose Sharks are now fighting. Team Teal heads east after falling against the Minnesota Wild on pride night. The limping hockey club welcomed Jake Walman back to the lineup in the defeat to Minnesota, but that wasn't enough to overcome the hurdle. Now, as the team heads to take on the red-hot Detroit Red Wings, the Sharks are up against it, looking for any way to extract the two points from a challenging game tonight.
Alex Wennberg will come in tonight for the Sharks after missing the Wild game due to illness. Players across the league are struggling with an illness right now, so getting the Swedish centerman back into the fold in the Motor City will be good. San Jose needs its big free agents to step up if they are going to remain competitive in the final months of the season. We know dreams of the postseason are over, but the momentum they could build could change a lot moving forward.
In goal, Alexandar Georgiev will play. Yaroslav Askarov and Vitek Vanacek are both on this trip, so there will be no shortage of options for Ryan Warsofsky. In the coming weeks, we'll see what Team Teal opts for when it comes to the crease, but the Bulgarian-born Russian will get the nod tonight, according to Ryan Warsofsky. The red-hot Red Wings will test Georgiev, so it's a chance to show he's got what it takes to stop them.
Projected Lineups
San Jose Sharks
Collin Graf - Mikael Granlund - Fabian Zetterlund
William Eklund - Macklin Celebrini - Tyler Toffoli
Luke Kunin - Alex Wennberg - Will Smith
Barclay Goodrow - Nico Sturm - Ty Dellandrea
Jake Walman - Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro - Timothy Liljegren
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Jan Rutta
Alexandar Georgiev
Yaroslav Askarov
Detroit Red Wings
Marco Kasper - Dylan Larkin - Lucas Raymond
Alex DeBrincat - Andrew Copp - Patrick Kane
Jonathan Berggren - J.T. Compher - Vladimir Tarasenko
Michael Rasmussen - Joe Veleno - Tyler Motte
Ben Chiarot - Moritz Seider
Simon Edvinsson - Albert Johansson
Erik Gustafsson - Justin Holl
Cam Talbot
Ville Husso
Puck Drop
It's a 4 p.m. puck drop from hockey town as the Sharks look for the two points in the Motor City. Detroit has won 7 straight, and the Sharks are struggling to keep up with the onslaught that teams have thrown at them. There is a chance that this gets ugly if the San Jose Sharks do not start on time. They need to play for their goaltender, and give themselves a chance to win tonight.