Wild Warmup: Minnesota at San Jose

The essentials

The opponent

Winners of two straight on home ice, the San Jose Sharks conclude a three-game homestand Sunday night when they host the Wild at SAP Center.
The Sharks are coming off a 5-0 drubbing of the Ottawa Senators on Saturday in San Jose. Five different Sharks players scored goals, led by Logan Couture's winner 12:55 into the game. Couture also finished with two assists. Backup goaltender Aaron Dell made 25 saves for his second shutout of the season.
Couture leads the Sharks with 25 points, including 15 goals this season. He's the only San Jose player in double digits in the goal-scoring category. Joe Thornton has five goals and 15 assists.
Martin Jones is likely to start in goal. He's 11-7-1 with a 2.42 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.

Connections

• Wild forward Charlie Coyle was selected by San Jose in the first round (28th overall) in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
• Wild goaltender Alex Stalock was selected by the Sharks in the fourth round (112th overall) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. He went 24-19-7 with a 2.37 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage and four shutouts in 62 games (46 starts) in five seasons (2010-16).
• Wild forward Daniel Winnik tallied five points (3-2=5) in 21 games with the Sharks (2011-12).
• Sharks defenseman Brent Burns was drafted by Minnesota in the first round (20th overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft and tallied 183 points (55-128=183) and 325 penalty minutes in 453 games (2003-11) with the Wild.
• Sharks defenseman Justin Braun is a Minneapolis native.
• Sharks defenseman Paul Martin is from Elk River and played at the University of Minnesota (2000-03).
• Sharks forward Joel Ward made his NHL debut with Minnesota appearing in 11 games (2006-07).

The Shark Tank

Minnesota is 9-6-2 in its past 17 games against San Jose but just 3-10-1 at SAP Center in the past 14 games. The Wild went 7-7-2 in its first 16 contests in San Jose.