Coyotes at Sharks
The San Jose Sharks return home from their five-game road trip Saturday to take on the Phoenix Coyotes. San Jose went 3-1-1 on its trek, coming within eight-tenths of a second of remaining unbeaten in regulation this season. The Sharks played stellar defense over the first four games of the trip, allowing a total of four goals before suffering a 4-3 overtime loss in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
San Jose begins a three-game homestand against Phoenix, which attempts to make Dave Tippett the winningest coach in franchise history. Tippett pulled even with Bob Francis atop the team's all-time wins list when the Coyotes posted a 5-4 shootout victory over the visiting Nashville Predators on Thursday. Phoenix trailed 3-0 after one period and 4-2 in the third before rallying to improved to 6-0-1 at home.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, CSN California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (9-3-2): Phoenix has won three straight contests and earned at least one point in 10 of its last 11 games (8-1-2). Tippett has notched 165 victories in 308 games behind the Coyotes' bench, while Francis reached that total in 390 contests. Phoenix recalled defenseman Brandon Gormley from Portland of the American Hockey League on Thursday, but the 21-year-old did not make his NHL debut against Nashville.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (10-1-2): Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic has scored three goals in 13 games this season, matching the amount it took him 48 contests to reach last campaign. Left wing Patrick Marleau has registered at least one point in 11 of his 13 games. Captain Joe Thornton is 11 points away from tying Nicklas Lidstrom (1,142) for 50th place on the all-time list and needs one assist to become the 30th player in NHL history to register 800 in his career.
OVERTIME
1. San Jose rookie LW Matt Nieto has missed the last two games with a hand injury.
2. Coyotes RW Jordan Szwarz played in his second NHL game Thursday and scored his first career goal.
3. Phoenix C Martin Hanzal is expected to be back in the lineup after serving his two-game suspension for a charging incident against Edmonton last Saturday.