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Sharks-Wild Preview

Apr 1, 2010 - 5:36 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

San Jose (47-20-10) at Minnesota (37-34-6), 8:00 p.m. EDT

The San Jose Sharks survived once without Joe Thornton, but could not do so a second time.

Thornton is expected to return after a two-game absence when the Sharks continue a four-game road trip against the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.

Thornton, who leads San Jose with 66 assists and 85 points, sat out a 4-3 win over Colorado on Sunday after leaving Saturday's 4-2 victory over Vancouver with a lower-body injury. He had played in 398 consecutive games and had not missed one since Oct. 18, 2005.

The Sharks (47-20-10) were not as fortunate without him Wednesday, as their four-game win streak ended with a 5-1 loss to Dallas in the trip opener. Evgeni Nabokov gave up five goals on 21 shots in the first two periods before being replaced by Thomas Greiss.

Thornton has one goal and two assists in three games against Minnesota (37-34-6) this season. The Sharks expect him to play Friday.

"Anytime you lose a good player like that, it hurts, but it opens the door for other players," defenseman Dan Boyle said.

San Jose has a four-point lead over Phoenix atop the Pacific Division and a three-point edge on Central Division leader Chicago for the best record in the Western Conference.

Nabokov had posted a 1.00 goals-against average in winning his three previous starts before Wednesday, but he wasn't the only culprit. San Jose gave up numerous odd-man rushes and was short-handed seven times - its highest total since Jan. 12.

"We gave up 2-on-1s, 3-on-2s," Boyle said. "Defensively we weren't on the same page. We were poor tonight."

The Sharks have done a much better job defensively in going 3-0 against the Wild this season, outscoring them 13-5. Patrick Marleau, who has four goals and three assists in the series, will be looking to avoid going pointless for a third straight game.

Nabokov has gone 11-0-1 with a 1.57 GAA in his last 12 starts against the Wild. He outplayed Niklas Backstrom twice and Josh Harding once this season, posting a 1.67 GAA.

Minnesota has alternated wins and losses in its last six games and moved to the brink of elimination after a 4-0 loss to Chicago on Wednesday. One more defeat or one more win by Colorado will make it official.

"It just wasn't good enough," center Kyle Brodziak said. "It wasn't what we expect out of each other. It wasn't good enough all the way through. The only way to describe it was embarrassing. We got outworked and outcompeted in every aspect of the game."

The Wild finished with 21 shots and have had that many or fewer in nine of their last 13 games.

"It is a refusal to shoot the puck," coach Todd Richards said. "We talk about that every meeting. We talk about it in between periods."

San Jose could be without left wing Ryane Clowe, who did not return after taking a puck to the throat against the Stars midway through the first period. Clowe had six points in his previous five games, and nine in his last eight contests against Minnesota.