Programming note: Sharks-Coyotes coverage starts tonight at 5:30pm with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California.
Where they stand
Sharks: 23-18-3, 49 points, 2nd Pacific Division
Coyotes: 22-18-3, 49 points, 3rd Pacific Division
The latest
Sharks: The Sharks couldn’t hang onto a third period lead, as their five-game winning streak was snapped in a shootout by the Ottawa Senators, 4-3. Tomas Hertl, Logan Couture and Matt Nieto scored, while Alex Stalock allowed four goals on just 17 shots to suffer the loss. After tonight, the Sharks have three straight home games leading into the All-Star break.
Coyotes: Buffalo got past the Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Monday, 2-1. Antoine Vermette scored their only goal, while Louie Domingue stopped 26 of 28 shots. It was Arizona’s third straight loss (0-2-1), after it had gone 5-0-1 in its previous six.
Keep an eye on…
Sharks: Matt Nieto. For just the second time this season, Nieto has points in back-to-back games after be finished off a beautiful feed from Joonas Donskoi on Monday against Ottawa. While Nieto’s six goals and 11 points in 41 games is disappointing, the 23-year-old has at least three shots on goal in five of his last nine games.
Coyotes: Max Domi. The 20-year-old rookie is third on the Coyotes in scoring with 31 points, placing him second in the NHL among first-year players. The 12th overall selection of the 2013 draft, Domi recorded a hat trick on Jan. 12 vs. Edmonton, but is without a point in his previous three games.
Probable lines
Sharks
Tomas Hertl – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Matt Nieto – Patrick Marleau – Joel Ward
Joonas Donskoi – Logan Couture – Tommy Wingels
Melker Karlsson – Chris Tierney – Mike Brown
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Dylan DeMelo
Martin Jones (confirmed starter)
Alex Stalock
Coyotes
Max Domi – Antoine Vermette – Mikkel Boedker
Tobias Rieder – Martin Hanzal – Anthony Duclair
Jordan Martinook – Brad Richardson – Shane Doan
Kyle Chipchura – Boyd Gordon – Viktor Tikhonov
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Connor Murphy
Klas Dahlbeck – Zbynek Michalek
Nicklas Grossmann – Michael Stone
Louie Domingue (confirmed starter)
Anders Lindback
Vitals
Sharks
Goals per game: 2.84 (5th)
Goals-against per game: 2.73 (21st)
Power play: 21.2 percent (6th)
Penalty kill: 79.5 percent (22nd)
Coyotes
Goals per game: 2.73 (8th)
Goals-against per game: 2.98 (27th)
Power play: 18.6 percent (13th)
Penalty kill: 76.4 percent (28th)
Injuries/Scratches
Sharks: Dainius Zubrus (upper body) is questionable. Raffi Torres (right knee) is on a conditioning assignment with the AHL Barracuda.
Coyotes: Joe Vitale (fractured orbital bone) and Mike Smith (core muscle surgery) are out.
Season series
This is the first of five games in the second half of the season between the Sharks and Coyotes, who meet next on Feb. 13 at SAP Center. The teams wrap up the regular season against one another on April 9, also in San Jose.
Odds and ends
*In 71 games Joe Thornton has 76 points against Arizona, his highest total against one team. He has at least one point in 14 of his last 15 games (5g, 14a) including a six-game scoring streak.
*San Jose is 5-1-1 in its last seven road games.
*Arizona is 10-1-2 against the Pacific Division. The Sharks are 6-4-1.
*San Jose is 15-1-0 when leading after the first period, and 15-0-1 when leading after two.
*After tonight, the only teams the Sharks will have yet to play are St. Louis and Vancouver.
