The Sharks make their first trip to Arizona on Saturday night, as the puck drops on their season series with the Coyotes.
San Jose put up a strong fight against a tough Dallas Stars team on Friday night, outshooting Dallas 43-30 and posting a perfect penalty kill. But two quick third-period goals by the Stars were enough to hand the Sharks a 3-2 defeat – San Jose's second loss at American Airlines Center this season.
The Desert Dogs are also coming off a loss, losing to the Stanley Cup-defending Washington Capitals on Thursday 4-2. Arizona is 5-4-1 in their last 10 games with 28 points in the standings, just five points behind San Jose.
Saturday marks the first of four meetings between the Sharks and the Coyotes this season. In 143 total meetings between the franchises, San Jose holds a 74-50-7-12 record.
Sharks projected lines and pairs
Evander Kane - Joe Pavelski - Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl – Logan Couture – Timo Meier
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Marcus Sorensen – Joe Thornton – Kevin Labanc
Melker Karlsson – Barclay Goodrow – Lukas Radil
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Radim Simek – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Erik Karlsson
Aaron Dell – confirmed starter
Martin Jones
Coyotes projected lines and pairs
Alex Galechenyuk – Nick Schmaltz – Clayton Keller
Richard Panik - Derek Stepan – Christopher Fischer
Mario Kempe – Brad Richardson – Conor Garland
Lawson Crouse – Nick Cousins – Josh Archibald
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Kevin Connauton
Jakob Chychrun – Niklas Hjalmarsson
Alex Goligoski – Jordan Oesterle
Adin Hill – projected starter
Hunter Miska
