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ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Wild (42-29-7) hosts the San Jose Sharks (20-47-10) tonight before heading on the road for a huge back-to-back.
The Wild will welcome back Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov back to the lineup tonight. It will be just the 25th time this season the two have been in the lineup at the same time. They are 17-5-2 in games in which both Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek play.
Eriksson Ek, 28, has played in 42 games this season. He has nine goals and 24 points this season and has missed the last 22 games with a lower-body injury.
Kaprizov, 27, has played in 37 games this season and has 23 goals and 52 points. He was on a MVP scoring tear to start the year and was on pace for 115 points over an 82-game season.
It will be Kaprizov's first game back since Jan 26. He has missed the last 28 games with a lower-body injury and 40 of the last 43 games.
Devin Shore and Brendan Gaunce were sent to the AHL after the Wild activated Kaprizov off Long-Term Injury Reserve and Eriksson Ek off Injury Reserve.
Marc-Andre Fleury will start tonight for the Wild. It will be his last home start of his NHL career and likely his second to last start. He started the two previous games against the Sharks this season.
In 29 career starts against the Sharks, Fleury is 20-5-4 with a 1.85 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. He has three shutouts as well.
Alexander Georgiev will start for the Sharks tonight. He is 6-3-0 in his career against the Wild with a 2.75 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage. In 46 games this season, Georgiev is 15-25-2 with a 3.69 goals-against average and a .873 save percentage.
In 28 games with the Sharks this season, Georgiev is 7-18-2 with a 3.88 goals-against average and a .873 save percentage.
Here are tonight's projected lines (subject to change).
Marcus Foligno – Marco Rossi – Matt Boldy
Kirill Kaprizov – Marco Rossi – Mats Zuccarello
Marcus Johansson – Freddy Gaudreau – Gustav Nyquist
Yakov Trenin – Ryan Hartman – Justin Brazeau
Defense:
Jonas Brodin – Brock Faber
Declan Chisholm – Jared Spurgeon
Jon Merrill – Zach Bogosian
Starting Goaltender: Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched: Cameron Crotty, Vinnie Hinostroza
Injured: Jake Middleton (upper).
Nikolai Kovalenko – Macklin Celebrini – Will Smith
William Eklund – Alexander Wennberg – Tyler Toffoli
Noah Gregor – Ty Dellandrea – Cam Lund
Carl Grundstrom – Zack Ostapchuk – Barclay Goodrow
Defense:
Mario Ferraro – Timothy Liljegren
Lucas Carlsson – Henry Thrun
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Jack Thompson
Starting Goaltender: Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched: Klim Kostin
Injured: Jan Rutta (lower body), Jimmy Schuldt (undisclosed), Logan Couture (groin), Shakir Mukhamadullin (upper body), Vincent Desharnais (upper body).