As of today, the Sharks occupy first place in the Pacific Division with a slim two-point lead over their rivals from down the California coast – the Los Angeles Kings. It figures to be a close race down the stretch, as both teams have picked up their game over the past few weeks.

When the Sharks and Blue Jackets meet for the third of four meetings tonight at HP Pavilion, not only will it be their second game in the same building in the last month, but it’s likely to be another tight-checking contest as the previous matchups have been.

San Jose has won both meetings by 2-1 finals, but the last game in the Bay Area was a tale of two halves: the Blue Jackets got an early goal from Vinny Prospal in the first period, but the Sharks came back to tie the game at 13:03 of the period (Ryane Clowe) and got the eventual game-winner less than five minutes into the second period. After that, the flow was largely dictated by the Sharks and they got several key saves from goaltender Thomas Greiss, who has stopped 48 of 50 shots in the season series against the Blue Jackets.

With both teams on full rest and the Blue Jackets arriving a day early to California, it’s expected that both regular starting goaltenders will play in tonight’s game. That means Curtis Sanford gets his third start of the year against the Sharks, and he’s been terrific of late: he has allowed two goals or fewer in three of his last four starts, carrying a 2.46 goals-against average and .915 save percentage in that stretch.

G	Nash (17)	Couture (21)
A	Prospal (21)	Thornton (30)
PTS	Nash (33)	Thornton (38)
PIM	Dorsett (111)	Winchester (71)
+/-	Johansen (+5)	Vlasic (+17)
W/L	Sanford (8-11-4)	Niemi (21-10-5)
GAA	Sanford (2.57)	Greiss (1.98)
SVP	Sanford (.912)	Greiss (.927)