Needing to run the table in their final three games and get plenty of outside help to reach the playoffs for the second straight year, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (38-31-10) start a two-game California road-trip with a match against Todd McLellan's San Jose Sharks (39-31-9) on Monday night. Game time at the SAP Center is 9:30 p.m. CDT. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Southwest Plus.
This is the third and final meeting between the teams this season, and the lone game in San Jose. The Sharks won each of the first two games in regulation, capturing a 5-3 victory on Nov. 8 and 5-2 on Feb. 19.
The Stars enter this game on a run of having won six of their last seven road games (6-1-0). However, the team has won just one of its last eight games against San Jose, going 1-5-2.
Dallas won in dramatic fashion on Saturday to keep their faint playoff hopes alive, earning a 4-3 road overtime win on a penalty shot goal by Cody Eakin. Winning goaltender Jhonas Enroth turned back 33 of 36 shots for the Stars.
For the first time all season, the Stars do not have any players unavailable due to injury.
In the meantime, San Jose is also in dire straights in the playoff chase. They are five points behind Los Angeles for the final playoff spot.
On Saturday night, San Jose held a big edge on the lowly Arizona Coyotes in the Corsi/Fenwick (puck possession) aspects of the game, including a whopping 86-68 edge in shot attempts and 45-36 edge in actual shots, but lost 5-3. Penalty killing lapses were the bane of the Sharks' existence.
On the Sharks' injury front, veteran defenseman Scott Hannan (eye) is questionable and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (lower body) is doubtful. Both Raffi Torres (knee) and Mirco Mueller (hand) are unavailable.