Game Preview: Minnesota Wild vs San Jose Sharks

The San Jose Sharks play host to the Minnesota Wild tonight, at 9:30pm CST. Both teams last played Tuesday night. Minnesota had a come-from-behind 5-4 win over the New York Islanders, while San Jose handled the Edmonton Oilers 5-2.

Defensemen Marco Scandella and Keith Ballard will be out of the Wild lineup. Scandella was suspended two games for his hit on Brock Nelson Tuesday night. They will also be without Ballard because of Tuesday’s night’s game, as he suffered a concussion and facial fractures on a Matt Martin hit.

Coming in hot for the Wild are Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise, with six and eight points respectively in their last five games played. Koivu, Parise, and Jason Pominville all have a five-game point streak going.

NHL Correspondent Dan Myers reported that the Sharks will be without Mike Brown, Tyler Kennedy, and Matt Nieto. The Sharks will also be without defensive leader Marc-Eduoard Vlasic. With the rash of injuries here, they’ve had to call up rookie winger Chris Tierney and defenseman Matt Tennyson to fill the void.

Wild defensive pairings are a bit jumbled with the team missing Scandella and Ballard. Jared Spurgeon will reunite with Ryan Suter on the top pair and Christian Folin will draw into the second pairing with Jonas Brodin. That will leave Nate Prosser and the recently recalled Justin Falk to man the third pairing.

Look for Darcy Kuemper to get the start in the Minnesota net, while Alex Stalock plays for San Jose in what may or may not be their holiday sweaters. Stalock, a St. Paul native, will get a start against the Wild for the first time in his career. It’ll actually be only the second time in Minnesota Wild history that a goaltender from Minnesota has gotten the start against the Wild.

The game is the second of three between the Sharks and Wild this season. Minnesota took the first 4-3 in a shootout on October 30.