The San Jose Sharks enter tonight's matchup against the Minnesota Wild on an eight-game losing streak.
The San Jose Sharks enter tonight's matchup against the Minnesota Wild on an eight-game losing streak.
The Sharks are 1-8-1 in their last ten games. The last time this team was in Minnesota, it played a somewhat high-scoring affair in which Kirill Kaprizov scored a hat trick.
The Sharks team that's headed into Minnesota looks drastically different. Anthony Duclair, Kaapo Kahkonen, Nikita Okhotiuk are gone. San Jose comes in with Thomas Bordeleau playing exceptionally well.
Bordeleau has seven points in his last ten games. He has scored five goals during that span, with four of them coming on the powerplay.
The Sharks are coming off a 6-3 loss to the Dallas Stars, where head coach David Quinn felt they never truly got engaged.
"We were a little bit off tonight. I don't know if it was the disappointment from Chicago that carried over," Quinn said postgame. "I do like how we responded a little bit in the second period."
Quinn said that Alexander Barabanov is out week to week with a lower-body injury. He did not travel with the team and was seen wearing a walking boot after the team's last game against the Stars.
Justin Bailey will take his spot in the lineup and play on a line with Luke Kunin and William Eklund. Mike Hoffman and Kevin Labanc enter the lineup, and Jacob MacDonald will be a healthy scratch. Mackenzie Blackwood will start for the Sharks.
Sharks projected line combinations:
Kostin-Granlund-Zetterlund
Eklund-Kunin-Bailey
Bordeleau-Sturm-Hoffman
Labanc-Carpenter-Zadina
Ferraro-Burroughs
Thrun-Rutta
Vlasic-Addison
Blackwood
Cooley
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The Hockey News