Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, the San Jose Sharks (21-14-5, 47 points) and Minnesota Wild (18-15-7, 43 points) face-off for the third and final time this season live from the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota. The game can be live streamed for free here. San Jose fans can hear all of the action on KFOX 98.5 while Minnesota fans can do the same on KFAN 100.3.
San Jose has won two of its last three games and plays the middle match of a three-game road trip while Minnesota has dropped two of three and will be home for the next three contests.
The Sharks are holding onto the final automatic playoff spot in the Pacific Division as they are in third place while the Wild are seven points out of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
These teams have exchanged wins with Minnesota picking up a 4-3 victory in a shootout on Oct. 30 and San Jose responding with a 2-1 regulation triumph on Dec. 11.
The Sharks are coming off of a thrilling 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday that saw Marc-Edouard Vlasic notch the deciding goal with 4.5 seconds left in regulation.
"I was in the right spot at the right time," Vlasic told NHL.com about his goal. "We played hard against a very fast and physical team. It [was] nice to finish it off before overtime."
Joe Pavelski ranks fifth in the NHL with 20 goals and leads the team with 35 points thus far this season. Logan Couture (14 tallies, 19 helpers) and Joe Thornton (nine goals, 24 assists) are tied for second on the team with 33 points.
The Wild are coming in off of a 7-1 drubbing at the hands of the Dallas Stars and will look to put forth a better effort tonight.
"It's not fun," Wild forward Zach Parise said after the game via NHL.com. "It's embarrassing. We've got a lot of players that individually need to be a lot better."
Parise leads the team with 30 points off of 14 goals and 16 assists while Jason Pominville has eight markers and 20 helpers for 28 points and Thomas Vanek has found the back of the net seven times and added 17 assists for 24 points.
In net, Minnesota will likely turn to Darcy Kuemper and he is 13-12-0 with a 2.63 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.
San Jose is projected to counter with Antti Niemi between the pipes and he is 16-9-4 this season with a 2.51 GAA and a .914 save percentage on the campaign.
The Sharks and Wild go head-to-head for the final time this season when the puck drops at the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota.
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