NHL Gameday: Surging Sharks visit slumping Coyotes

Programming note: Sharks-Coyotes coverage starts tonight at 7:00 p.m. on NBCSN

WHERE THEY STAND

Sharks: 6-3-0, 12 points, 2nd Pacific Division
Coyotes: 2-6-0, 4 points, 7th Pacific Division

PREGAME NEWS AND NOTES

***The Sharks are coming off of a three-game sweep of their homestand last week, beating the Ducks, Blue Jackets and Predators. On Saturday, it was goals from Joe Pavelski (PP), Joonas Donskoi, Tommy Wingels and Joe Thornton (EN) that led the club to a 4-1 win against Nashville. Pavelski (11 points) is tied for third in the league in scoring, and has four points (2g, 2a) in his last three games.

San Jose is two points behind Edmonton for first place in the division.

“We had a good week of practice last week after we came off our five-game road trip to start the season,” Pete DeBoer told reporters on Monday. “Our game right now is in a pretty good place.”

The Sharks return home to host the Flames and Penguins later this week. They are 4-0 at SAP Center and 2-3-0 on the road.

***Arizona enters with the worst record in the NHL, having lost six of its last seven games while allowing 30 goals over that span.

The Coyotes are last in the NHL in goals allowed per game (4.12) and shots allowed per game (34.1), and have struggled in special teams with the league’s 28th ranked power play (10.7 percent) and 27th ranked penalty kill (72.4 percent).

Second-year forwards Anthony Duclair (1 assist) and Max Domi (six assists) are still searching for their first goals. They had 20 and 18 goals, respectively, last season as rookies.

***Sharks forward Mikkel Boedker will play in Arizona for the first time as a visitor. In 445 career games over parts of eight seasons with the Coyotes organization, Boedker posted 80 goals and 133 assists for 213 points. He was traded to Colorado last Feb. 29.

As a first-year Shark Boedker is still looking to get going with just one point in nine games, a goal in Columbus on Oct. 15. He remains on the left wing of the Joe Thornton-Joe Pavelski line.

On Thursday, Boedker told the local media: “It’s obviously a learning curve, new systems and guys you’ve got to get used to, and [the] puck doesn’t necessarily bounce your way to start with, but it’s going to come. As long as we keep working hard and playing good hockey, we’ll be in good shape.”

KEEP AN EYE ON...

Sharks: Martin Jones. The Sharks goalie is third in the league in ice time (474:20), and will be making his sixth straight start. He seems to be finding his groove, stopping 70 of 73 shots during the team’s three-game winning streak. Against Arizona, he has a career 4-1-0 record with a 0.80 goals-against average and .965 save percentage.

Coyotes: Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The defenseman leads the Coyotes in goals (5), and time-on-ice (26:01 per game). The 25-year-old has led the team in scoring each of the past two seasons, including 55 points in 2015-16 (seventh among defensemen).

PROBABLE LINES

Sharks
Mikkel Boedker – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Joonas Donskoi – Logan Couture – Joel Ward
Patrick Marleau – Tomas Hertl – Melker Karlsson
Micheal Haley – Chris Tierney – Tommy Wingels

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

Martin Jones (confirmed starter)
Aaron Dell

Coyotes
Max Domi – Martin Hanzal – Radim Vrbata
Jamie McGinn – Dylan Strome – Anthony Duclair
Tobias Rieder – Brad Richardson – Shane Doan
Laurent Dauphin – Jordan Martinook – Ryan White

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Kevin Connauton
Alex Goligoski – Luke Schenn
Jakob Chychrun – Connor Murphy

Louis Domingue (confirmed starter)
Justin Peters

INJURIES

Sharks: Paul Martin (flu) is questionable.

Coyotes: Michael Stone (upper body) is day-to-day. Mike Smith (left leg) is out. 

QUOTEABLE

“We refocused [after the road trip] and talked about what we needed to do. I think we put [forth] a better effort and paid more attention to the details, and had a higher compete level these last few games." – Tommy Wingels