NHL Gameday: Sharks ‘champing at the Bit' to Play Red Wings

Programming note: Sharks-Red Wings coverage starts today at 3:30 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California

WHERE THEY STAND

Sharks: 3-2-0, 6 points, 3rd Pacific Division
Red Wings: 3-2-0, 6 points, 5th Atlantic Division

NEWS AND NOTES

***The Sharks will be trying to rebound from a crushing defeat on Thursday. In a Stanley Cup rematch in Pittsburgh, the Penguins erased 2-0 hole after two periods to beat the Sharks, 3-2, in regulation.

“We know we let one slip away the other night,” Logan Couture said. “That’s the main focus for us right now, get out, have a good first period and try to rebound from that.”

Patrick Marleau said: “Everybody is champing at the bit to get back out there and right that wrong by having a good, strong game.”

***At 2-2 through the first four games of their road trip, the Sharks have a chance conclude it with a winning record. San Jose had the best road record in the NHL last season at 28-10-3.

“Our group understands the importance of a good road record,” Pete DeBoer said. “We’ve got a veteran group that really prepares themselves properly. I don’t know if there’s any secret to it. They take a lot of pride in showing up and playing the right way on the road. We want to continue to do that.”

The Sharks open up a three-game homestand with Anaheim on Tuesday. After tonight, five of their next six games are at SAP Center.

***The Sharks will not make any lineup changes against the Red Wings. Matt Nieto remains in on the fourth line, while Martin Jones will start his fifth game out of six in net.

Detroit beat Nashville at home on Friday night, 5-3, in its “best game of the season” according to Tomas Tatar, via the Detroit Free Press. The Red Wings will likely go with Jimmy Howard after it was Petr Mrazek who got the win against the Predators. Howard is coming off of a brilliant 32-save performance at the Rangers on Wednesday in which he essentially stole the game for the Red Wings.

It could be a good opportunity for the Sharks to get their scuffling power play going, as Detroit gave up three power play goals against to Nashville. San Jose is just 2-for-13 in its last four games on the power play, with one an empty-netter and another on a two-man advantage.

KEEP AN EYE ON

Sharks: Tomas Hertl. The Sharks forward has one goal in each of the last two games, including the opening score against Pittsburgh on Thursday, and brings a three-game point streak (2g, 1a) into Detroit. After a slow start, the Sharks’ top line with Hertl, Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton seems to be heating up.

Red Wings: Thomas Vanek. The 32-year-old forward joined Detroit in the offseason on a one-year deal, and is its leading scorer among forwards with six points (3g, 3a). He’s had some success against the Sharks in his career, too, with six goals (and eight points) in 14 games.

PROBABLE LINES

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

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

Martin Jones (confirmed starter)
Aaron Dell

Red Wings
Tomas Tatar – Henrik Zetterberg – Riley Sheahan
Justin Abdelkader – Frans Nielsen – Dylan Larkin
Thomas Vanek – Darren Helm – Gustav Nyquist
Drew Miller – Luke Glendening – Steve Ott

Dan DeKeyser – Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson – Alexey Marchenko
Brendan Smith – Ryan Sproul

Jimmy Howard (expected starter)
Petr Mrazek

INJURIES

Sharks: None.

Red Wings: Niklas Kronwall (knee), Tomas Jurco (back), Johan Franzen (concussion) and Joe Vitale (concussion) are out.

QUOTEABLE

“I thought we played a pretty solid game (in Pittsburgh) for most of the game. Obviously we had a couple breakdowns, but I liked our effort and the way we controlled the game for most of it. We’ve just got to put together a full 60, and we’ll be fine.” – Chris Tierney

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