NHL Gameday: Critical Sharks road trip begins in Edmonton

Programming note – Sharks-Oilers coverage starts today at 5:30 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California

WHERE THEY STAND

Sharks: 43-26-7, 93 points, 2nd Pacific Division
Oilers: 42-25-9, 93 points, 3rd Pacific Division

PREGAME NEWS AND NOTES

***The Sharks’ final road trip of the season begins with an important back-to-back in Edmonton and Calgary, as they fight to at least keep home ice advantage in the first round. They are tied in points with the Oilers, and have a three-point advantage, with a game in hand, on Calgary.

San Jose snapped a six-game regulation losing streak on Tuesday against the Rangers, 5-4 in overtime.

“I think we had a good game as a team,” Mikkel Boedker said. “I think we played really well, and we were extremely focused on our details of the game and what we had to do to be successful. That’s going to be the same tonight.”

***There’s a chance that the Sharks and Oilers, who meet once more next week, could be first round playoff opponents. DeBoer weighed in on that possibility, and how it affects tonight's game.

“Where we’re sitting in the standings, the potential of playing each other in the playoffs – all that stuff. It’s a critical game,” Pete DeBoer said. “The outcome isn’t going to end the season for either of us, and both of us will pick up and move on whether it’s a win or a loss and get ready for the next one, but there’s definitely a lot at stake and there’s definitely messaging that can be sent this time of the year.”

Edmonton has won three in a row, and seven of its last eight.

***Speaking of messaging, and DeBoer wouldn’t confirm it, but it appears that Micheal Haley will return to the lineup in place of Kevin Labanc. Haley served a one-game suspension on Tuesday for punching Calle Jarnkrok last Saturday.

Labanc played much of Tuesday’s game on the top line left wing. There were no line rushes on Thursday morning, though, so just who will take that place with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski will remain a mystery until warmups.

***The Sharks have won two of three from Edmonton in the season series, including one in overtime, but the Oilers claimed a 4-1 win in the most recent meeting in San Jose on Jan. 26. They meet for the fifth and final time on April 6. 

KEEP AN EYE ON...

Sharks: Mikkel Boedker. The free agent addition played his best game in weeks on Tuesday against the Rangers, snapping a 10-game scoreless drought. He recorded a pair of primary assists in San Jose’s win by generating some shots towards the net, which were cleaned up by Jannik Hansen and Chris Tierney. The last time Boedker was in Edmonton on Jan. 10, he registered a hat trick in a 5-3 Sharks victory.

Oilers: Cam Talbot. No goalie has played more this season than Talbot (38-21-8, 2.37 GAA, .920 SP), who has appeared in 68 games and recorded 3992 minutes – more than 400 minutes more than Devan Dubnyk. After a rare game off against Colorado on March 25, he returned to the net to make 34 saves in a 2-1 Oilers win against Los Angeles on Tuesday.

PROBABLE LINES

Sharks
Timo Meier – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Melker Karlsson – Patrick Marleau – Joel Ward
Jannik Hansen – Tomas Hertl – Mikkel Boedker
Micheal Haley – Chris Tierney – Joonas Donskoi

Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon – David Schlemko

Martin Jones (starter)
Aaron Dell 

Oilers
Patrick Maroon – Connor McDavid – Leon Draisaitl
Milan Lucic – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Jordan Eberle
Benoit Pouliot – David Desharnais – Zack Kassian
Drake Caggiula – Mark Letestu – Anton Slepyshev

Oscar Klefbom – Adam Larsson
Andrej Sekera – Kris Russell
Darnell Nurse – Matt Benning

Cam Talbot (starter)
Laurent Brossoit

INJURIES

Sharks: Logan Couture (face) is out.

Oilers: None.

QUOTEABLE

“It’s big to play those teams that you’re battling with. … It’s going to be tough. But, it’s good to start ramping it up. It’s only going to get harder.” – Brent Burns