NHL Gameday: Sharks' Boedker appears to be in; McDavid slumping

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Programming note – Sharks-Oilers coverage starts today at 7:00 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on NBC Sports California

SERIES SCHEDULE

The best-of-seven series is tied, two games apiece.

Game 1: Sharks 3, Oilers 2 (OT)
Game 2: Oilers 2, Sharks 0
Game 3: Oilers 1, Sharks 0
Game 4: Sharks 7, Oilers 0
Game 5: Thursday, April 20, Sharks @ Oilers (7:30 p.m.)
Game 6: Saturday, April 22, Oilers @ Sharks (7:30 p.m.)
*Game 7: Monday, April 24, Sharks @ Oilers (TBD)

* - if necessary

PREGAME NEWS AND NOTES

***The Sharks will apparently make one lineup change, as Mikkel Boedker will replace Joonas Donskoi, who remained on the practice ice late with the other scratches. Boedker has sat out the previous two games, and is scoreless with a minus-one rating. Donskoi has one assist and a minus-three rating in four games.

***After they were shut out in games two and three, the Sharks’ offense came alive in a 7-0 beat down of the Oilers in Game 4 at SAP Center. Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture had two goals apiece, and the Sharks went 4-for-8 on the power play. It was the most lopsided Sharks playoff win in franchise history.

The Sharks scored seven goals in a playoff win for the third time in playoff history. They’ve lost the two previous series in which that’s occurred – 1999 vs. Colorado, and 2014 vs. Los Angeles.

***Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl earned a fine but escaped suspension for his spearing of Chris Tierney, and will be back in the lineup tonight on Connor McDavid’s wing. The league’s eighth-leading scorer in the regular season has no points through four games.

***McDavid still has yet to break through in the series, with just one shorthanded goal and a secondary assist on the power play. Held off the scoresheet in games three and four, he has never gone three straight games in his NHL career without a point.

***April 20 marks the two-year anniversary that the Sharks fired head coach Todd McLellan and assistants Jay Woodcroft and Jim Johnson. All are now with the Oilers.

***Martin Jones’ shutout in Game 4 was his first since the 2016 playoffs, when he had three during the Sharks’ lengthy run. 

KEEP AN EYE ON...

Sharks: Mikkel Boedker. Assuming he draws back in, Boedker will be trying to make an impact after he was a healthy scratch in games three and four. The 26-year-old was a healthy scratch once in the regular season on Jan. 5, and responded with four goals in his next two games - including a hat trick in Edmonton on Jan. 10. There were no hints as to which line he would play on, but skating with Logan Couture and Jannik Hansen is probably the likliest place.

Oilers: Patrick Maroon. While McDavid’s struggles have been in the spotlight, his linemate, Maroon, has done even less. The winger is scoreless in four games with a minus-two rating, has taken some bad penalties, and will apparently be skating on the third line tonight.

PROBABLE LINES

Sharks
Patrick Marleau – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Mikkel Boedker – Logan Couture – Jannik Hansen
Melker Karlsson – Tomas Hertl – Timo Meier
Marcus Sorensen – Chris Tierney – Joel Ward

Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon – David Schlemko

Martin Jones (starter)
Aaron Dell

Oilers
Drake Caggiula – Connor McDavid – Leon Draisaitl
Milan Lucic – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Patrick Maroon – Mark Letestu – Zack Kassian
Benoit Pouliot – David Desharnais – Anton Slepyshev

Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell
Darnell Nurse – Matt Benning

Cam Talbot (starter)
Laurent Brossoit

INJURIES

Sharks: None.

Oilers: Tyler Pitlick (torn ACL) is out.

SHARKS PLAYOFF RECORD WHEN…

The Sharks are 6-9 all-time when a series is tied at two games apiece. They are 9-3 all-time when leading a series three games to two, and 1-10 all-time when trailing three-games-to-two.

The Sharks have an all-time Game 5 record of 16-16, including 6-11 on the road.

QUOTEABLE

“Their big boys stepped and had a game. It’s up to us, especially our key guys, to step up and have a game for our hockey club. I don’t think we’ve stepped up yet in this series. We get an opportunity to do that in Game 5 at home.” - Milan Lucic

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