Wild at Sharks
The San Jose Sharks can wrap up home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs on Saturday when they host the Minnesota Wild in the regular-season finale for both teams. The Sharks, who are fending off Los Angeles and Anaheim for second place in the Pacific, will face one of the California clubs in the first round while Minnesota will tangle with Central Division rival Winnipeg.
"We needed that just to kind of put those other teams in the rearview a little bit. If we hold on to second here on Saturday and go from there, get home ice in the first round, it would be huge," said Sharks defenseman Justin Braun, who is a Minneapolis native. Braun scored his career-high fifth goal this season and recorded a team-high six blocked shots on Thursday as the Sharks snapped a four-game skid with a 4-2 triumph over Colorado. Minnesota has had San Jose's number, winning each of the last five outings with this season's two victories coming in overtime. Eric Staal, who scored his 41st goal in Thursday's 5-4 overtime setback to Los Angeles, will bid to match or surpass Marian Gaborik's franchise-record goal total (42) on Saturday against a team he has tormented this season with three goals and an assist.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FS North (Minnesota), NBCS California-Plus (San Jose)
ABOUT THE WILD (44-26-11): Mikael Granlund set up two goals versus the Kings to wrest the team-leading assist (46) distinction from defenseman Ryan Suter, who is sidelined for the remainder of season and playoffs with an ankle injury. The 26-year-old Granlund also had two assists against San Jose on Dec. 10 while Jason Zucker set up a pair of goals versus the Sharks in a 3-2 triumph on Feb. 25. Devan Dubnyk turned aside 26 shots in the second encounter, but he may receive additional rest with the team having little for which to play on Saturday -- which would then shuffle former Shark Alex Stalock into the crease.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (45-26-10): Defenseman Brent Burns has collected 27 of his 65 points on the power play, including a pair of goals in a 4-3 overtime loss to his former team on Dec. 10. Tomas Hertl also tallied in that contest and found the net against the Avalanche to boost his season total to a career-high 22 goals, surpassing the 21 he scored in 2015-16. Captain Joe Pavelski set up a goal versus Colorado to extend his point streak to three games and heads into Saturday's tilt with 31 points (15 goals, 16 assists) in 37 career matches versus Minnesota.
OVERTIME
1. Minnesota D Matt Dumba has scored in back-to-back outings to increase his career-high goal and point totals to 14 and 49, respectively.
2. D Paul Martin, who is from Minneapolis and played at the University of Minnesota, boasts a plus-6 rating since returning to the Sharks on March 17.
3. The Wild have thwarted 25 of their last 26 short-handed situations over the last eight games.