Coyotes at Sharks
The San Jose Sharks attempt to move closer to a postseason berth when they host the Arizona Coyotes on Friday in the opener of a home-and-home series. San Jose enters the contest trailing Los Angeles by five points for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with five games remaining.
The Sharks have climbed back into contention with a surge that continued Wednesday, when they rolled to a 5-1 victory over Colorado to improve to 3-0-1 in their last four contests. Arizona has fallen into the basement in the West by losing 10 of its last 12 contests (2-9-1). The most recent defeat was a 4-1 setback on Monday in Buffalo, which is just four points behind the Coyotes for 29th place in the NHL. San Jose is 2-0-1 in the five-game season series, which has seen the road team win each of the first three contests and concludes Saturday in Arizona.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona, CSN Plus California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (23-46-8): Arizona will be glad to hit the road as Monday's loss was its eighth straight at home (0-7-1). The Coyotes haven't fared much better away from Gila River Arena, however, losing eight of their last 10 (2-8-0). Mike Smith is looking to avoid the dubious distinction of being the first goaltender with 40 regulation losses since Marc Denis recorded 41 in 2002-03 with Columbus.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (38-30-9): Antti Niemi, who has watched the last three games from the bench due to an illness, may return to the crease Friday. Alex Stalock, who went 2-0-1 while filling in, also has been hit with the illness. "Al isn't feeling that good," coach Todd McLellan told the San Jose Mercury News. "It's his turn now. We'll see how he is (Friday) morning, but because of that, we're probably leaning toward (Niemi)."
OVERTIME
1. The Sharks' streak of 10 consecutive playoff appearances is in jeopardy.
2. Arizona's Oliver Ekman-Larsson leads the team with 21 goals, a total that also tops all NHL defensemen.
3. San Jose recalled D Karl Stollery from Worcester of the American Hockey League on Friday.