Pregame Preview #56: Sharks Host Playoff Desperate Predators

The San Jose Sharks welcome the Nashville Predators, who are in a tight race for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The San Jose Sharks (15-35-5) welcome the Nashville Predators (30-25-2), who are in a tight race for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The Predators sit tied with the St. Louis Blues with 62 points but sit one spot out of the second wild card. The Blues lost this morning to the Detroit Red Wings.

Kaapo Kahkonen will start for the Sharks, and Givani Smith will return to the lineup for the first time since December 21st against the Arizona Coyotes. He had been dealing with a bone bruise in his knee and suffered a few setbacks. 

"It felt like I had a knife stabbing me in my knee," Smith told the media this morning.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic picked up an upper-body injury at practice yesterday and will be out for tonight's game. 

Luke Kunin is also a question mark for tonight, as he only took place in one of the last three practices. He was not expected to miss tonight's game earlier in the week, but that might've changed.

The Predators could start their star goalie, Juuse Saros, who has been subject to trade rumors of late. 

"Your release is important. You have to get pucks off quickly. You have to get some traffic around him to take his eyes away," Sharks coach David Quinn said. "Make them work hard to see pucks like you did with every goalie in this league, but more so for a guy of his size because it is a little bit more difficult for him to see things."

Henry Thrun took the spot of Calen Addison on the first powerplay unit, but Quinn confirmed that Addison would remain on the point of PP1.

Eight teams with scouts are scheduled to be in attendance.

Sharks projected line combinations:

Duclair-Granlund-Zetterlund
Barabanov-Eklund-Hoffman/Kunin (GTD)
Zadina-Sturm-Labanc
Smith-Carpenter-Bailey

Ferraro-Emberson
Thrun-Rutta
Burroughs-Addison

Kahkonen
Blackwood

Puck drop is at 7 p.m. and can be seen on NBC Sports California or the Sharks Audio Network.

Make sure you bookmark THN's San Jose Sharks site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.

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