Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, the Pittsburgh Penguins (38-18-9, 85 points) and San Jose Sharks (32-26-8, 72 points) face-off for the first of two meetings this season live from the SAP Center in San Jose.
Pittsburgh has won two straight games against other California teams and is 2-1-0 on a three-match road trip while San Jose has won two of its last three contests and plays the second tilt of a four-game home stand.
The Penguins currently hold the third and final automatic playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division and are three points up on the top wild-card team the Washington Capitals (82 points) while trailing the second place New York Rangers (87) and first place New York Islanders (89) in the race for the division crown.
The Sharks are six points behind the Winnipeg Jets (78) for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference and have their division rival Los Angeles Kings (75) also in front of them.
These teams will meet again when Pittsburgh hosts San Jose on Sunday, March 29.
This game can be live streamed for free by clicking here.
The Penguins are coming in off of a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday and will look for a California sweep after topping the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Friday.
"It's a really good win," said forward Patric Hornqvist, who scored the overtime goal on Saturday, according to NHL.com. "We need to build on that. Now we know we can play with anyone."
Pittsburgh's offense has been paced by Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby thus far this season. Malkin is third in the NHL with 67 points and leads the Penguins with 28 goals this season while Crosby is fourth in the league with 66 points and tied for third in the NHL with 47 assists.
The Sharks are coming off of a 3-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday that opened up their four-match home stand.
The team is prepared for a very deep Penguins team.
"We're preparing for the Sid that can get the two or three points a night, because he's that good," head coach Todd McLellan told CSNBayArea.com. "There's nobody in our room that doesn't understand that. But they also have a guy named Malkin that's in the two-hole that can do the same thing."
Joe Pavelski leads San Jose with 61 points and is tied for fourth in the NHL with 32 goals while Joe Thornton is tied for fourth in the league with 44 assists and second on the Sharks with 57 points.
San Jose is set to turn to Antti Niemi between the pipes and he is 25-18-7 with a 2.62 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.
Pittsburgh is expected to counter with Marc-Andre Fleury and he is 30-14-6 while ranking tied for fifth in the NHL with a 2.14 GAA and adding a .924 save percentage.
The Penguins and Sharks cross paths for the first time this season when the puck drops live from the SAP Center tonight in San Jose.
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