SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks are looking to extend their winning streak to six games as they return to SAP Center. But it won’t be an easy task with the Winnipeg Jets in town.
“This is a big challenge,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said after Thursday’s morning skate. “This is one of the elite offensive teams in the league. They can play any way [they ] want to play. Speed, heavy, hard – scoring from defense and forwards. Elite guys, elite power play. So, there are a lot of weapons there to be aware of.”
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The team is coming off of one of their best 60-minute efforts yet, shutting out the Wild 4-0 in Minnesota on Tuesday evening. Logan Couture led the charge with a two-goal evening, elevating him to a team-best 36 points. Tomas Hertl, Lukas Radil, and Radim Simek all tallied two points on the evening as well. The victory helped place San Jose in second place in the Pacific Division standings behind the Calgary Flames.
The Jets, for their part, are sitting atop the Central after winning eight of their last 10 contests. After tallying three straight overtime victories, Winnipeg fell to the LA Kings 4-1 on Tuesday. They enter Thursday’s game with the best power play in the league (30%) and are averaging 3.56 goals per game.
[RELATED: Logan Couture, driving force in Sharks win streak]
This is the first meeting of the season between the Sharks and the Jets. In 29 total franchise meetings, San Jose holds an 18-6-2-3 record.
San Jose Sharks
Sharks projected lines and pairs:
Evander Kane – Joe Pavelski – Joonas Donskoi
Tomas Hertl – Logan Couture – Timo Meier
Marcus Sorensen – Joe Thornton – Kevin Labanc
Melker Karlsson – Barclay Goodrow – Lukas Radil
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Radim Simek – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Erik Karlsson
Martin Jones – projected starter
Aaron Dell
Jets projected lines and pairs:
Nikolaj Ehlers – Mark Scheifele- Blake Wheeler
Kyle Connor – Bryan Little – Patrik Laine
Mathieu Perreault – Jack Roslovic – Brandon Tanev
Brendan Lemieux – Nicolas Petan – Mason Appleton
Josh Morrissey – Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot – Dustin Byfuglien
Dmitry Kulikov – Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck – projected starter
Laurent Brossoit