Morning Skate: Sharks close out regular season with Coyotes

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Programming note 
Sharks-Coyotes coverage starts tonight at 7:00 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California

Where they stand

Sharks: 45-30-6, 96 points, 3rd Pacific Division
Coyotes: 35-38-8, 78 points, 4th Pacific Division

Playoff picture

The Sharks are locked into third place in the Pacific Division. They will face either the Ducks or the Kings on the road to start the first round.

If Los Angeles beats Winnipeg today, or the Ducks lose in regulation to the Avalanche, San Jose will start the playoffs in Anaheim.

The latest

San Jose Sharks

Find the latest San Jose Sharks news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.

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Sharks: A late goal by Dustin Byfuglien pushed Winnipeg to a 5-4 win over the Sharks at SAP Center on Thursday, ruining any chance San Jose had at home ice in the first round. The Sharks are 1-5-0 in their last six home games and just 17-20-3 on the season. They have won four of their last six overall, though, headed into today’s regular season finale (4-2-0).

Coyotes: Nashville downed Arizona in overtime on Thursday, 3-2. Arizona, which will finish in fourth place in the Pacific Division, is 1-4-1 in its last six headed into tonight’s final game. The Coyotes are 13-23-4 on the road.

Keep an eye on…

Sharks: Martin Jones. Tonight will be the final tune-up for Jones before he likely gets tabbed as the playoff starter next week. The goalie allowed five scores to Winnipeg on Thursday, but two came on deflections while the team in front of him was looser than usual. Still, if he struggles against the Coyotes, could coach Pete DeBoer opt to go with the red-hot James Reimer for Game 1, instead?

Coyotes: Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The Coyotes’ best player missed the last two games against San Jose, but has four points in his last four games (1g, 3a). The defenseman still leads Arizona in scoring with 55 points (21g, 34a) in 74 games.

Probable lines

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

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

Martin Jones (confirmed starter)
James Reimer

Coyotes
Alex Tanguay – Antoine Vermette – Anthony Duclair
Tobias Rieder – Laurent Dauphin – Jiri Sekac
Max Domi – Brad Richardson – Shane Doan
Jordan Martinook – Boyd Gordon – Kyle Chipchura

Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Connor Murphy
Kevin Connauton – Zbynek Michalek
Klas Dahlbeck – Alex Grant

Mike Smith
Marek Langhamer

Vitals

Sharks
Goals per game: 2.91 (4th)
Goals-against per game: 2.56 (12th)
Power play: 22.7 percent (3rd)
Penalty kill: 80.2 percent (22nd)

Coyotes
Goals per game: 2.57 (21st)
Goals-against per game: 3.00 (28th)
Power play: 17.9 percent (20th)
Penalty kill: 77.2 percent (28th)

Injuries/Scratches

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

Coyotes: Joe Vitale (fractured orbital bone), Anders Lindback (Achilles), Mike Stone (leg), Martin Hanzal (upper body), Eric Selleck (upper body), Nicklas Grosmann (personal) and Louis Domingue (personal) are out.

Season series

The Sharks are 3-1-0 in four games against Arizona, and have won both games in San Jose. Joe Thornton and Joonas Donskoi each have four points in the season series.

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