The Sharks are back in action tonight against the Utah Mammoth. It is their second meeting of the season against the newly rebranded Utah Mammoth, losing 6-3 on the road in their first go-around. The Sharks will look to change the script in the Shark Tank tonight.
Their lineup is as follows.
Kurashev - Celebrini - Smith
Eklund - Wennberg - Graf
Gaudette - Dellandrea - Toffoli
Goodrow - Ostapchuk - Reaves
Ferraro - Mukhamadullin
Orlov - Leddy
Askarov
Nedeljkovic
Dickinson - Desharnais
Scratches: Klingberg, Liljegren, Iorio
The forward core is the same as it was last time out against the Kraken. The Sharks are without Jeff Skinner, who is out week to week, but isn’t expected to miss an extended period of time as initially expected. He is also apparently ahead of Michael Misa, who has been out since the start of November with a lower-body injury.
The defense, on the other hand, has some changes. Dickinson is drawing back in for John Klingberg. This is Klingberg's first healthy scratch of the season. Klingberg had a rough go against Seattle and has been underwhelming this season for the Sharks in general. Warsofsky had this to say about Klingberg's scratching: “There’s a risk-and-reward type of defenseman...but you have to get the reward. And we really haven’t got a lot of that." The 33-year-old offensive defenseman only has 5 points in 13 games, and hasn’t provided nearly enough defensively to make up for the decrease in his offense. Even though there is time to rebound, it's been a disappointing start to what looked to be a promising fit for a Sharks blueline in need of an offensive spark. Liljegren is benched for the 2nd straight game and appears to be on the outs of a crowded blueline at the moment. While Iorio is still on his AHL conditioning stint, he counts toward the Sharks' 23-man roster.
In net, the Sharks are going back to Yaroslav Askarov, the rookie netminder has been brilliant this month and looks to continue his stellar play against the Mammoth.
A win would bump the Sharks above .500 and get back in the win column after dropping their last two games.