SAN JOSE- The last time the Sharks played the Canadiens, they snapped their worst losing streak of the season and turned their whole campaign around. They look to keep that good fortune going as the Habs make their one and only visit to San Jose on Thursday night.
The Sharks continues to push forward despite dealing with injuries and illness. Evander Kane will be out of the lineup on Thursday as he continues to recover from an undisclosed injury. Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski missed practice time this week dealing with flu symptoms, but are expected to pencil into Thursday night’s lineup.
Erik Karlsson is expected to be out of the lineup for the remainder of San Jose’s current homestand.
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Montreal makes their visit after going 5-5-0 in their last 10 contests, and are currently the second wild card in the Eastern Conference standings. The Habs haven’t won a game at SAP Center since November of 1999, going 0-9-2 in San Jose ever since.
This is the second and final time the Sharks and Habs will play each other this season. In 39 total meetings between the franchises, San Jose holds a 20-14-4-1 record.
Sharks projected lines and pairs
Timo Meier – Logan Couture – Joe Pavelski
Joonas Donskoi – Tomas Hertl – Kevin Labanc
Marcus Sorensen – Joe Thornton – Gustav Nyquist
Micheal Haley – Barclay Goodrow – Melker Karlsson
Radim Simek – Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Tim Heed
Brenden Dillon – Justin Braun
Martin Jones – projected starter
Aaron Dell
San Jose Sharks
Canadiens projected lines and pairs
Tomas Tatar – Phillip Danault – Brendan Gallagher
Paul Byron – Max Domi – Andrew Shaw
Jonathan Drouin – Jordan Weal – Joel Armia
Artturi Lehkonen – Nate Thompson – Dale Weise
Victory Mete – Shea Weber
Jordie Benn – Jeff Petry
Brett Kulak – Christian Folin
Antti Niemi – projected starter
Carey Price