Morning Skate: Sharks begin season's final road trip in Nashville

Programming note 
Sharks-Predators coverage starts tonight at 4:30 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California

Where they stand

Sharks: 43-29-6, 92 points, 3rd Pacific Division
Predators: 39-26-13, 91 points, 4th Central Division

Playoff picture

The Sharks trail the Kings by five points and Ducks by four points in the Pacific Division. Both have one game in hand on San Jose.

Los Angeles hosts Dallas this afternoon, while Anaheim is idle.

The latest

Sharks: In one of their weakest performances in the second half, the Sharks dropped a 4-2 decision to Vancouver at home on Thursday, dropping them to just 17-19-3 at home. At 26-10-3 on the road, the Sharks are one win shy of their franchise record for a season. They play their final road game on Tuesday in Minnesota.

Predators: Nashville brings a three-game losing streak into tonight’s game, dropping its last two on the road in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Dallas on Thursday by identical 5-2 scores. If they remain in fourth place in the Central as expected, the Predators will likely play the Pacific Division winner in the first round of the playoffs.

Keep an eye on…

Sharks: Joonas Donskoi. The Sharks forward made a pair of miscues in the loss to Vancouver on Thursday, leading to a pair of Canucks goals in the first period. The 23-year-old managed to post an assist later in the game, though, getting a bit lucky when an attempted pass from Brent Burns glanced off his stick on Logan Couture’s game-tying marker.

Predators: Filip Forsberg. The 21-year-old has seven points in his last seven games (3g, 4a), and has taken over the team scoring lead with 59 points. He’s tied with James Neal for the lead in goals, too, with 31. In the last game against the Sharks on Feb. 6, he posted one goal and two assists.

Probable lines

Sharks
Tomas Hertl – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Joonas Donskoi – Logan Couture – Joel Ward
Melker Karlsson – Patrick Marleau – Tommy Wingels
Nick Spaling – Chris Tierney – Dainius Zubrus

Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Dylan DeMelo – Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon – Roman Polak

James Reimer (confirmed starter)
Martin Jones

Predators
Calle Jarnkrok – Ryan Johansen – James Neal
Filip Forsberg – Mike Ribeiro – Craig Smith
Colin Wilson – Mike Fisher – Viktor Arvidsson
Miikka Salomaki – Paul Gaustad – Colton Sissons

Roman Josi – Shea Weber
Mattias Ekholm – Petter Granberg
Barret Jackman – Stefan Elliott

Pekka Rinne
Carter Hutton

Vitals

Sharks
Goals per game: 2.91 (3rd)
Goals-against per game: 2.56 (13th)
Power play: 22.4 percent (3rd)
Penalty kill: 80.3 percent (22nd)

Predators
Goals per game: 2.73 (12th)
Goals-against per game: 2.60 (14th)
Power play: 19.5 percent (11th)
Penalty kill: 80.7 percent (18th)

Injuries/Scratches

Sharks: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (right knee), Matt Nieto (right hand) and Matt Tennyson (concussion) are out.

Predators: Anthony Bitetto (lower body) and Ryan Ellis (upper body) are out.

Season series

Nashville has won both meetings over the Sharks in regulation this season: 2-1 on Oct. 28 in San Jose, and 6-2 at Bridgestone Arena on Feb. 6. Predators goalie Pekka Rinne has allowed three goals on 51 shots (.941 save percentage).

San Jose is 0-5-1 in its last six trips to the Music City.