Morning Skate: Sharks host NHL's best in Capitals

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

Where they stand

Sharks: 37-24-6, 80 points, 3rd Pacific Division
Capitals: 49-13-5,103 points, 1st Metropolitan Division

Playoff picture

The Sharks trail the Kings by four points and the Ducks by three points in the Pacific Division. Los Angeles has one game in hand.

The Kings host the Devils on Saturday night.

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: The Sharks were shut out for the fifth time on Thursday, 3-0 by New Jersey, despite outshooting the Devils 30-16. San Jose has lost three of its last four home games, where it is just 12-15-3 on the year. Saturday’s game completes a stretch of four games in six nights for the Sharks, who host the Bruins on Tuesday.

Capitals: Washington wraps up a four-game road swing tonight, including its third straight in California. The Caps beat Anaheim on Monday, 2-1 in a shootout, but lost in overtime to the Kings on Wednesday, 4-3, in a game in which they erased a 3-0 third period hole. The Caps are 23-7-3 on the road this season.

Keep an eye on…

Sharks: Joel Ward. The former Capitals forward is scoreless in the last eight games, and hasn’t recorded a shot on goal in the past three. Pete DeBoer mentioned on Friday that Ward is still doing all of the little things right, but the Sharks could use a little more production from the depth winger. Perhaps a game against his former team gets him going.

Capitals: Evgeny Kuznetsov. Nope, it’s not Alex Ovechkin or Nicklas Backstrom leading the Caps in scoring this year – it’s Kuznetsov, a 23-year-old first round pick from 2010. He has 20 goals and 68 points in 67 games, including at least one point in 11 of the last 14 (5g, 9a). Kuznetsov’s 36 primary assists leads the NHL.

Probable lines

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

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Roman Polak

Martin Jones (confirmed starter)
James Reimer

Capitals
Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Justin Williams
Jason Chimera – Marcus Johansson – Tom Wilson
Daniel Winnik – Mike Richards – Jay Beagle

Karl Alzner – Matt Niskanen
Brooks Orpik – Dmitri Orlov
Mike Weber – Nate Schmidt

Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer

Vitals

Sharks
Goals per game: 3.18 (2nd)
Goals-against per game: 2.60 (15th)
Power play: 21.9 percent (7th)
Penalty kill: 79.6 percent (22nd)

Capitals
Goals per game: 2.91 (4th)
Goals-against per game: 2.30 (2nd)
Power play: 23.7 percent (1st)
Penalty kill: 84.5 percent (4th)

Injuries/Scratches

Sharks: Tommy Wingels (shoulder sprain) and Matt Tennyson (possible concussion) are out.

Capitals: John Carlson (lower body) is out.

Season series

The Sharks gave the Capitals their worst loss of the season on Oct. 13 at Verizon Center, 5-0. Washington’s Alex Ovechkin missed the game after he overslept the morning skate.

San Jose is 19-1-2 in the last 22 meetings.

Odds and ends

*Micheal Haley was recalled from the Barracuda on Saturday morning.

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