SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks are looking to make it three wins in a row on Monday night as they kick off a back-to-back on home ice with their SoCal rival, the LA Kings.
The Sharks are coming off a statement win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. Evander Kane scored two goals, while Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson tallied a combined five assists on San Jose’s way to defeating the league-leading Bolts, 5-2.
The Kings are also coming off a Saturday night win, having shut out the Edmonton Oilers 4-0. LA has gone 6-3-1 in their last 10 contests but is still occupying the bottom spot of the Pacific Division, with only 37 points.
Team Teal will play a second consecutive game without defensemen Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun. Radim Simek participated in morning skate on Monday but can't return to the lineup until he passes a few more concussion tests, per Sharks' head coach Peter DeBoer.
This is the third time this season the Sharks and Kings will face off. Their season series is currently tied at a game apiece, with both contests going into overtime.
Sharks projected lines and pairs:
Marcus Sorensen – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
San Jose Sharks
Lukas Radil – Logan Couture – Timo Meier
Evander Kane – Tomas Hertl – Joonas Donskoi
Kevin Labanc – Barclay Goodrow – Melker Karlsson
Joakim Ryan – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Erik Karlsson
Jacob Middleton – Tim Heed
Martin Jones – projected starter
Aaron Dell
Kings projected lines and pairs:
Ilya Kovalchuk – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Alex Iafallo – Jeff Carter – Brendan Leipsic
Carl Hagelin – Adrian Kempe – Tyler Toffoli
Kyle Clifford – Nate Thompson – Austin Wagner
Derek Forbort – Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin – Sean Walker
Dion Phaneuf – Oscar Fantenberg
Jonathan Quick – projected starter
Jack Campbell