The Sharks are looking to win their 3rd straight game tonight against the Florida Panthers. The team won a close 2-1 hockey game against the Jets last night and will look to carry their hot play into tonight against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
The lines are as follows
Tyler Toffoli - Macklin Celebrini - Will Smith
Philipp Kurashev - Alex Wennberg - Collin Graf
Jeff Skinner - Ty Dellandrea - Ethan Cardwell
Barclay Goodrow - Adam Gaudette - Ryan Reaves
Dimitri Orlov - Timothy Liljegren
Mario Ferraro - John Klingberg
Sam Dickinson - Vincient Desharnais
Yaroslav Askarov
Alex Nedeljkovic
Scratches: Ostapchuck, Iorio, Mukhamadullin
The Sharks are icing the same lineup as last night, outside of Sam Dickinson drawing in for Mukhamadullin. Mukhamadullin sitting out is an interesting choice; he has been consistent since returning to the lineup, and Warsofsky has been fine with icing both the young defenders in favor of Desharnais in the past. This may be more of an Injury management scratch than a performance-based one. With Mukhamadullin recently coming back from an injury he suffered earlier in the year.
The Sharks are banged up up-front with both William Eklund and Michael Misa currently on IR. Eklund has been absent since last week's game against the Red Wings, while Misa suffered an Injury during warm-ups for the game against Seattle. Eklund has been skating and can be activated as soon as tomorrow; he could likely be back on the Sharks road trip after tonight. As for Misa, his injury is more long-term and is listed as week-to-week. It's a tough break for Misa, who has played in only half of the Sharks' games this season, mainly due to the team's philosophy of gradually integrating young players into the NHL.
In net, the Sharks are going with Yaroslav Askarov after Nedeljkovic played last night. After a rough stretch for both netminders early in the year, both have been playing better of late. Askarov has a save percentage above 900 over his last five after a woeful start, while Nedeljkovic has a 906 save percentage on the season, a respectable number given the beginning of the year.
The Sharks have been playing their best of late, but they have a tall task in front of them tonight. If they pull through, however, they could find themselves in a playoff spot by the end of the night, depending on how other games unfold.