
Programming note
Sharks-Penguins coverage starts today at 3:30pm with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California
Where they stand
Sharks: 11-8-0, 22 points, 2nd Pacific Division
Penguins: 12-7-0, 24 points, 3rd Metropolitan Division
The latest
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Sharks: Melker Karlsson scored in overtime and Martin Jones notched his third shutout, helping the Sharks to a 1-0 win in Philadelphia on Thursday. San Jose has won the first four games of its trip, and five road games in a row overall. They visit Columbus tomorrow, and host the Blackhawks on Wednesday.
Penguins: Pittsburgh skated past Colorado at home on Thursday, 4-3, its seventh win at Consol Energy Center in the last nine. The Penguins are 12-4-0 since starting the season with three straight regulation defeats.
Keep an eye on…
Sharks: Paul Martin. The defenseman makes his return to Pittsburgh tonight, where he spent the past five seasons. Martin has one assist in three of the last four games, including the secondary helper on Melker Karlsson’s overtime goal on Thursday. Of note is that Martin’s former partner, Kris Letang, enters tonight with team-worst -11 rating after finishing as a +12 last season.
San Jose Sharks
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Penguins: Evgeni Malkin. The Penguins star leads the team in goals (7) and points (17), and all seven of his scores have come at Consol Energy Center. After ripping into his team last Saturday after a bad loss to New Jersey, Malkin has five points in the last two games (3g, 2a).
Probable lines
Sharks
Melker Karlsson – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Joonas Donskoi – Patrick Marleau – Joel Ward
Nikolay Goldobin – Tomas Hertl – Tommy Wingels
Matt Nieto – Chris Tierney – Mike Brown
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Matt Tennyson
Martin Jones (confirmed starter)
Alex Stalock
Penguins
Pascal Dupuis – Sidney Crosby – Patric Hornqvist
David Perron – Evgeni Malkin – Phil Kessel
Chris Kunitz – Nick Bonino – Beau Bennett
Sergei Plotnikov – Matt Cullen – Eric Fehr
Rob Scuderi – Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin – Ben Lovejoy
Ian Cole – Adam Clendening
Marc-Andre Fleury
Jeff Zatkoff
Vitals
Sharks
Goals per game: 2.63 (17th)
Goals-against per game: 2.47 (13th)
Power play: 14.0 percent (28th)
Penalty kill: 77.6 percent (22nd)
Penguins
Goals per game: 2.26 (25th)
Goals-against per game: 2.26 (4th)
Power play: 14.9 percent (25th)
Penalty kill: 83.6 percent (9th)
Injuries/Scratches
Sharks: Ben Smith (head) and Logan Couture (fractured right fibula) are out.
Penguins: Olli Maatta (upper body) and Bryan Rust (undisclosed) are out.
Season series
It won’t be long before the Penguins and Sharks see each other again, as Pittsburgh visits San Jose on Dec. 1 in the only other meeting this season.
The Sharks are 16-2-3 in their last 21 vs. Pittsburgh.