The San Jose Sharks face the Minnesota Wild with both teams looking to improve from rough starts to the season. The Sharks have a 4-9-3 record and are near the bottom of the Pacific Division. The Wild meanwhile have a 7-6-1 record but with back-to-back wins have leaped in the middle of the Central Division. Both teams are looking to improve in the Western Conference and the upcoming game should be a good one as a result.
The Sharks are having a rough season and hope the offense can step up, scoring only 2.75 goals per game. Timo Meier, Logan Couture, and Tomas Hertl have scored 17 goals and 22 assists while Erik Karlsson is adding 10 goals and 11 assists from the point but the rest of the offense has struggled. Only five skaters have scored four goals or more while only four skaters have scored six goals or more and opposing defenses can eliminate the hapless offense as a result.
The offense has struggled but the defense has let the Sharks down, allowing 3.44 goals per game including 28 goals in the last six games. While Erik Karlsson and Jaycob Megna have combined for 2.1 defensive point shares and 29 blocked shots, the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to find open shots on the net at will. Moreover, goaltender James Reimer has struggled in the net with a .906 save percentage and a 2.99 goals -against average on 319 shots.