It seems as though the San Jose Sharks are determined to only win in the shootout this season, earning their third shootout win against the Anaheim Ducks last night. In what is looking more and more like a trend, the Sharks had a dominant first period (was it dominant, or were they just playing the Ducks? I guess I’ll give them this one) but blew it in the second, making the win more difficult than it needed to be.
Helping the Sharks out along the way was a rare weak game from John Gibson and an even rarer decent performance by Martin Jones. Tonight, though, they’ll be facing off against Shark Killer Ryan Miller, who is 10-8-2 all time against the Sharks, with a .922 save percentage — tied for his fifth-best split with the Ottawa Senators.
It’s another night of debuts, as Rudolfs Balcers makes his return to San Jose tonight, replacing Sasha Chmelevski, who made his debut last night. Though Chmelevski earned his first NHL point (a secondary assist on the opening goal by Matt Nieto) and had two shots on goal, he saw little ice time in the third period as the team faced a 3-1 deficit and the bench was shortened.
Here’s everything you need to know to tune in:
Lines
SAN JOSE SHARKS
Evander Kane — Logan Couture — Kevin Labanc
Patrick Marleau — Tomas Hertl — Timo Meier
Rudolfs Balcers — Dylan Gambrell — Ryan Donato
Marcus Sorensen — Noah Gregor — Matt Nieto
Marc-Edouard Vlasic — Brent Burns
Mario Ferraro — Erik Karlsson
Nikolai Knyzhov — Radim Simek
Devan Dubnyk
Martin Jones
Expected Scratches: Alexander Chmelevski, Stefan Noesen, Fredrik Claesson
Injured Reserve: None
ANAHEIM DUCKS
Adam Henrique — Derek Grant — Troy Terry
Danton Heinen — Sam Steel — Jakob Silfverberg
Max Comtois — Vinni Lettieri — Rickard Rakell
Nicolas Deslauriers — David Backes — Carter Rowney
Hampus Lindholm — Kevin Shattenkirk
Cam Fowler — Jani Hakanpaa
Jacob Larsson — Ben Hutton
Ryan Miller
John Gibson
Expected Scratches: Isac Lundestrom, Max Jones
Injured Reserve: Josh Manson (oblique), Sonny Milano (upper body), Ryan Getzlaf (lower body)
How to Watch
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Tonight’s game will be broadcast regionally on Fox Sports San Diego, PRIME and NBC Sports Bay Area, as well as available to stream through NHL.tv or ESPN+.
Follow along in the comments for live updates and reactions throughout the game!
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