NBCSN’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with Monday night’s matchup between the San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild. Coverage begins at 7p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.
Tonight’s matchup could very well be a playoff preview – if San Jose wins the Pacific Division and the Wild secure a postseason Wild Card berth. The Sharks currently have 90 points, the second-most in the West behind the Calgary Flames (91), while the Wild have 74 points, one point ahead of Arizona (73 pts).
The Sharks enter this game on a four-game winning streak and are 13-3-1 in their last 17 games (since Jan. 22). They’ve scored five-plus goals in three of their last six games and are 4-for-12 (33.3 percent) on the power play in that span (San Jose is 14-for-49 (28.6 percent) on the power play since Jan. 22).
The Sharks went a perfect 4-0-0 on their recent four-game homestand despite being down some key players. Erik Karlsson and Evander Kane both missed the entire homestand, while Brent Burns and Joe Pavelski both played at less than 100 percent, battling through flu bugs.
The Wild won five straight games from Feb. 21 – March 2 but have lost three of four games since then (1-1-2 record), including a disappointing 6-2 loss at the Florida Panthers on Friday to snap an eight-game point streak. The loss followed a 3-0 win at Tampa on Thurs day (before that, the Wild dropped two straight to Nashville in the shootout). Minnesota now returns home for five straight games, where they are just 14-13-6 this season. Minnesota has lost seven of their last eight home games (1-4-3 record).
The Wild are tied with the Ducks for the second longest active playoff streak in the league (six straight seasons).
[WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS AT 7 P.M. ET – NBCSN]
What: San Jose Sharks at Minnesota Wild
Where: Xcel Energy Center
When: Monday, March 11, 7 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: You can watch the Sharks-Wild stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
SHARKS
Timo Meier - Logan Couture - Joe Pavelski
Joonas Donskoi - Tomas Hertl - Gustav Nyquist
Marcus Sorensen - Joe Thornton - Kevin Labanc
Micheal Haley - Barclay Goodrow - Melker Karlsson
Radek Simek - Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Tim Heed
Brenden Dillon - Justin Braun
Starting goalie: Martin Jones
WILD
Jordan Greenway - Eric Staal - Jason Zucker
Zach Parise - Victor Rask - Kevin Fiala
Ryan Donato - Joel Eriksson Ek - Pontus Aberg
Marcus Foligno - Eric Fehr - J.T. Brown
Ryan Suter - Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin - Greg Pateryn
Anthony Bitetto - Brad Hunt
Starting goalie: Devan Dubnyk