Preview and GDT: Winnipeg Jets vs San Jose Sharks

Time: 9:30 PM CST

Channel: TSN3, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

Radio: TSN1290, KFOX

California, here we come!

The Winnipeg Jets have embarked on their annual California road trip, with the first of three stops taking place in San Jose tonight when they take on the Sharks.

Winners of four of their last five, including their last game which came four days ago against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Jets currently hold third place in the Central Division standings, despite finding basically every way in the book to have a player end up injured.

Nikolaj Ehlers leads the Jets in goals with 11, and showed off his blazing speed on Monday, winning the Winnipeg Jets Skills Competition's Fastest Skater event with a blistering time of 13.03 seconds. Before you go “whoa, that’s faster than Connor McDavid”, keep in mind that this is not from a standing start. But the Flying Dane can indeed fly.

Tonight, the Jets visit the San Jose Sharks, in the second of three West Side Story Games this season. The Jets came away with the victory in San Jose on November 1st thanks to a goal by Ehlers with a little less than a minute and a half left in the game, with the Jets winning 3-2.

San Jose sits fourth in the Pacific Division, after a very slow start to their year. However, the Sharks are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games, as things finally seem to be working for them. Logan Couture has 20 assists and 25 points on the year, while Evander Kane has 12 goals (though none is his last five games).

Goaltending continues to be an issue for San Jose, with the team save percentage sitting at .893. Martin Jones has been getting the bulk of the work in net, and has an .891 save percentage this year.

Despite the bad goaltending, the Sharks have the top rated penalty kill in the NHL with a 91.5 % efficiency, while the Jets thump along in 29th at 72.2%.

On the flippity, Connor Hellebuyck and his .928 save percentage are a big reason for the Jets success. He swooped in to grab a victory on Saturday after Laurent Brossoit was forced to temporarily exit the game against the Jackets.

No updates on the injury front for the Jets, with Bryan Little, Mason Appleton and Gabriel Bourque still on the shelf, and Mark Letestu out long-term.

Tomas Hertl took the morning skate for San Jose, but will miss his fourth straight game with an ankle injury.

San Jose has been running a 11 forward, seven defender set-up of late.

Winnipeg Jets Lineup:

FORWARDS:

81 Kyle Connor / 55 Mark Scheifele / 29 Patrik Laine

27 Nikolaj Ehlers / 26 Blake Wheeler / 28 Jack Roslovic

9 Andrew Copp / 17 Adam Lowry / 85 Mathieu Perreault

46 Joona Luoto / 19 David Gustafsson / 38 Logan Shaw

DEFENCE

44 Josh Morrissey / 3 Tucker Poolman

7 Dmitry Kulikov / 4 Neal Pionk

2 Anthony Bitetto / 5 Luca Sbisa

STARTING GOALIE

37 Connor Hellebuyck

Riding the pine: 30 Laurent Brossoit

Scratched: 80 Michael Spacek, 23 Carl Dahlstrom

Injured: 22 Mark Letestu (myocarditis, ETA mid-April), 88 Nathan Beaulieu, (upper body, day-to-day) 18 Bryan Little (head, out indefinitely), 82 Mason Appleton (foot, week-to-week), 57 Gabriel Bourque (lower body, ETA December 7)

On Some Beach, Somewhere: 33 Dustin Byfuglien

San Jose Sharks Lineup:

FORWARDS

9 Evander Kane / 39 Logan Couture / 12 Patrick Marleau

28 Timo Meier / 23 Barclay Goodrow / 62 Kevin Labanc

20 Marcus Sorensen / 19 Joe Thornton / 68 Melker Karlsson

7 Dylan Gambrell / 40 Antti Suomela /

DEFENCE

44 Marc-Edouard Vlasic / 65 Erik Karlsson

51 Radim Simek / 88 Brent Burns

4 Brenden Dillon / 38 Mario Ferraro

72 Tim Heed

STARTING GOALIE

30 Aaron Dell

Riding the pine: 31 Martin Jones

Scratched: 73 Noah Gregor , 52 Lukas Radil

Injured: 5 Dalton Prout, 48 Tomas Hertl