SAN JOSE – The Sharks have been rolling since the start of 2019. They will face another tough challenge in their last home game before the All-Star break when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.
San Jose was busy last week, playing five games in an eight-day span. But, they won each of them. After a slow start on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators, the Sharks cruised to a 4-1 victory and extended their winning streak to six games.
The Pens are 8-2-0 in their last 10 contests. Pittsburgh has caught fire after a slow start to the season – including a five-game losing skid in November – and has been playing some of their best hockey of the season. They are 7-2-1 against Pacific Division teams this season.
This is the first of two games the Sharks and Penguins will play against each other this season. In 39 total franchise meetings, San Jose is 19-15-3-2 against Pittsburgh.
Sharks projected lines and pairs
Marcus Sorensen – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Lukas Radil – Logan Couture – Timo Meier
Evander Kane – Tomas Hertl – Joonas Donskoi
Kevin Labanc – Barclay Goodrow – Melker Karlsson
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Radim Simek – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Erik Karlsson
Tim Heed – Justin Braun
Martin Jones – projected starter
Aaron Dell
[RELATED: Thornton to notch 'great accomplishment' vs. Penguins]
Penguins projected lines and pairs
Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Tanner Pearson – Evgeni Malkin – Dominik Simon
Riley Sheahan – Derick Brassard – Phil Kessel
Derek Grant – Matt Cullen – Garrett Wilson
Brian Dumoulin – Kris Letang
Olli Maatta – Jamie Oleksiak
Marcus Pettersson – Jack Johnson
Matt Murray – projected starter
Casey DeSmith
