Sharks at Coyotes
Undefeated at home, the San Jose Sharks venture out of the safe waters of SAP Center in search of their fourth straight victory on Tuesday when they visit the Pacific Division-rival Arizona Coyotes. The Sharks, who improved to 4-0-0 at home with a 4-1 triumph over Nashville on Saturday, posted a 2-3-0 mark on their initial five-game road trip on the heels of recording a franchise-best 28 wins away from home last season.
"That was a tough road trip," said San Jose center Logan Couture, who collected a goal and two assists on the trek. "It's tough when you play five of six on the road and go out East. You don’t really have much time to get settled with your team, you're not practicing. I thought we did OK on that road trip." Cellar-dwelling Arizona fell to 0-6-0 against any team other than Philadelphia this season with Saturday's 3-2 setback to Colorado to begin a three-game homestand. "We're struggling to get wins, and I can't give up three goals every night hoping we have more wins than we do right now. It's impossible in this league," said Louis Domingue, who has yielded at least three goals in each of his six appearances.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, NBCSN
ABOUT THE SHARKS (6-3-0): Captain Joe Pavelski increased his point total to 10 (four goals six assists) in his last seven games by scoring and setting up a goal on Saturday for the second time in three contests. The 32-year-old has clobbered the Coyotes, scoring a goal in each of the last two meetings while registering 47 points (27 goals, 20 assists) in 55 career encounters. Veteran defenseman Brent Burns has been held off the scoresheet in each of the last four games, although it's not for a lack of trying as the 31-year-old has peppered 20 of his league-high 45 shots on goal during that stretch.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (2-6-0): Max Domi set up Radim Vrbata's goal to extend his assist streak to five in four games while the latter's four tallies are one shy of defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson for the team lead. The other member of the line, Martin Hanzal, has won 63.7 percent of his faceoffs as Arizona ranks fourth in the league with a 53.1 percentage. As for Ekman-Larsson, he has scored three goals and set up another during his three-game point streak and collected two tallies and an assist in a 5-3 win over San Jose on April 4.
OVERTIME
1. Arizona D Kevin Connauton sat out Saturday's tilt and is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury, but coach Dave Tippett told reporters that he expects him to play on Tuesday.
2. San Jose is 4-for-9 on the power play in the last three games and is 19-for-20 on the penalty kill in the last six.
3. The last seven goals by the Coyotes have been scored by seven different players.