Toronto Maple Leafs @ San Jose Sharks
10:00 PM at SAP Center at San Jose
Watch on: TSN4, NBCSCA

The Leafs last game was away on March 30 against the Anaheim Ducks, which Toronto won by a score of 5-4 in overtime. The Leafs have a record of 32-30-13 for a 0.513 Points %.

The San Jose Sharks last played at home on April 1 against the Anaheim Ducks. The Sharks won by a score of 4-3 in regulation, and their current league record is 35-31-7 for a 0.527 Points %.

The Sharks snuck right back into the tight race for the last playoff spot in the west on the strength of some wins, but LA holds position there today with a matching Points % of 0.527 and a one-point lead. The Jets are now only two points behind. That's a gap that can be crossed, and so is Seattle's three points. Whoever can get that one or two unexpected wins might just get to play the Avalanche in the first round.

The interesting part of tracking the race for the worst playoff spot in the NHL and the one for fifth last by the Leafs is how close all the teams are together. It's the same group playing at about the same pace. St. Louis is still in fifth last with 0.500, so an 82 point season. Toronto has 77 points, so to get no more than 81, they have to play at 0.250. They are 0.389 since the Olympics.

Turning that LA pick into a second rounder can be helped along by a Leafs win tonight.

Them

The difference between the Sharks results and the Leafs is how many Pacific teams the Sharks have played. They aren't the last-place team of recent years, but they aren't very far off, and it would be more obvious in a different division.

The difference between them and the post-deadline Leafs is which goalie is better on the night.

Igor Chernyshov is a game time decision, and his replacement would be Philipp Kurashev.

Ryan Reaves injured his finger in a fight about a week ago.

Lines

Last game plus potential changes.

Igor Chernyshov - Macklin Celebrini - Will Smith
William Eklund - Alexander Wennberg - Kiefer Sherwood
Collin Graf - Michael Misa - Tyler Toffoli
Barclay Goodrow - Zack Ostapchuk - Adam Gaudette

Dmitry Orlov - Vincent Desharnais
Shakir Mukhamadullin - Mario Ferraro
Sam Dickinson - Nick Leddy

Alex Nedeljkovic - starter
Yaroslav Askarov

Us

Phil Myers gets to play, as does Steven Lorentz. Defence pairs to be confirmed.

Lines

David Alter via Daily Faceoff with today's changes.

Easton Cowan - John Tavares - William Nylander
Matthew Knies - Bo Groulx - Matias Maccelli
Dakota Joshua - Max Domi - Nicholas Robertson
Steven Lorentz - Jacob Quillan - Calle Järnkrok

Morgan Rielly - Brandon Carlo
Jake McCabe - Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Simon Benoit - Phil Myers

Anthony Stolarz - confirmed starter
Joe Woll

The Game

I guess your rooting interest depends on which pick you think is more likely to be influenced by this season's results.