San Jose hosts Minnesota after Hertl's 3-goal game

Minnesota Wild (18-6-1, first in the Central) vs. San Jose Sharks (14-11-1, second in the Pacific)

San Jose, California; Thursday, 10:30 p.m. EST

LINE: Sharks +121, Wild -144; over/under is 6

BOTTOM LINE: San Jose hosts the Minnesota Wild after Tomas Hertl scored three goals in the Sharks' 5-3 win against the Flames.

The Sharks are 6-5-0 in Western Conference games. San Jose averages only 3.3 penalties per game, the fewest in the Western Conference. Jonah Gadjovich leads them averaging 0.5.

The Wild are 11-5-0 against conference opponents. Minnesota ranks third in the league averaging 3.7 goals per game, led by Ryan Hartman with 13.

In their last meeting on Nov. 16, San Jose won 4-1.

TOP PERFORMERS: Timo Meier has 26 total points for the Sharks, 11 goals and 15 assists. Logan Couture has two goals and seven assists over the last 10 games for San Jose.

Kirill Kaprizov has 30 total points while scoring nine goals and totaling 21 assists for the Wild. Alex Goligoski has eight assists over the last 10 games for Minnesota.

LAST 10 GAMES: Sharks: 6-4-0, averaging 2.7 goals, 4.6 assists, 2.4 penalties and 5.1 penalty minutes while giving up 2.3 goals per game with a .921 save percentage.

Wild: 8-1-1, averaging 4.5 goals, 8.1 assists, 4.6 penalties and 10.4 penalty minutes while giving up 2.3 goals per game with a .933 save percentage.

INJURIES: Sharks: None listed.

Wild: Jared Spurgeon: out (lower body), Frederick Gaudreau: day to day (health protocols).

------

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.