Wild at Sharks
THE STORY: Two of the NHL's hottest teams - and recent trading partners - collide Thursday when the San Jose Sharks host the Minnesota Wild. San Jose has gone 7-1-1 over its last nine contests and is 2-0-1 on its six-game homestand. The Wild enter with a five-game winning streak and a 6-1-1 record in their last eight matches. Tuesday's meeting is the first between the Western Conference rivals since Minnesota acquired Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi from the Sharks in separate deals for Martin Havlat and defenseman Brent Burns, respectively. San Jose has won seven of the last nine overall matchups and is 8-0-1 in the last nine at HP Pavilion.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN North, FSN Wisconsin (Minnesota), CSN California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE WILD (8-3-3): Minnesota's goaltending has been tremendous all season, and especially during its winning streak as Josh Harding and Niklas Backstrom have combined to allow a total of three goals. Backup Harding yielded three tallies over the first four victories while Backstrom posted a shutout over Calgary on Tuesday. The Wild have surrendered 26 goals this season, second in the league to only the Edmonton Oilers (23). Backstrom has posted a 2.05 goals-against average while Harding sports a 1.18 mark.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (8-4-1): San Jose is looking to extend its home winning streak against Minnesota to five games and has won 23 of its last 33 overall contests at the Shark Tank. Antti Niemi has faced the Wild three times in his career, going 3-0-0 with one shutout and a 1.67 GAA. Burns has not been shy in expressing his unhappiness with the Wild organization for being traded. "I want them to lose every game," he said. "You think I want them to do well? You have to be competitive to reach this level, and I'm a pretty intense guy. And when a team doesn't want you, you sure don't want them to go 82-0."
OVERTIME:
1. Backstrom has not fared well against San Jose over his career. The Finn is 4-9-3 with a .906 save percentage in 16 overall meetings and 1-5-1 with a 3.39 GAA in seven contests at HP Pavilion.
2. Minnesota's penalty-killing unit is a perfect 21-for-21 during the club's winning streak.