Tonight’s match will be the third of the five-game season series between the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks and the first in Orange County. The Sharks winless so far this season against Anaheim (0-1-1) with the single point earned against the Ducks coming on October 25 in a 2-1 overtime loss. Ryan Kesler leads the Ducks in scoring so far this season with 11 goals and 23 assists but has only recorded 16 points in 40 games against San Jose in his career. 

The Ducks recent defensive woes might be just what the doctor ordered for the goal-starved San Jose Sharks. Anaheim has given up 13 goals in their last two games: an 8-3 drubbing versus the Calgary Flames before storming back against the Carolina Hurricanes to win 6-5 on Ondrej Kase’s shootout winner.

The Sharks are coming off a bad loss to the Ottawa Senators. Despite outshooting Ottawa 37-16 and dominating in Corsi-for events, the Sharks never led in Wednesday’s game. Captain Joe Pavelski was especially snakebitten. His 11 attempts on net paced San Jose and seven of those attempts landed on netminder Mike Condon with only an assist to show for the effort.

Preliminary signs also point to the Sharks being without the services of defenseman David Schlemko for the second straight game.

With the San Jose Barracuda and Sharks playing a hockey doubleheader on Saturday at SAP Center, it’s a good bet that Mueller isn’t looking to spend the day in Disneyland. He’ll likely be the extra body in case one of the defenders from Wednesday’s game cannot go against the Ducks.

San Jose Sharks at Anaheim Ducks

Honda Center – 7:00 p.m. PST

Broadcast channels – CSN Bay Area

Radio: Sharks Radio Network

2016-17 Season Series: 0-1-1

October 25 – Ducks 2 Sharks 1 (OT)

November 26 Ducks 3 Sharks 2

San Jose Sharks – 15-10-1 (31 Points)

Road Record: 6-6-1

Hot Players: Martin Jones, Brent Burns

Key Injuries: Tomas Hertl, David Schlemko

Projected lines:

Forwards

Patrick Marleau – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski

Melker Karlsson – Logan Couture – Joel Ward

Mikkel Boedker – Chris Tierney – Joonas Donskoi

Michael Haley – Tommy Wingels – Kevin Labanc

Defense

Paul Martin – Brent Burns

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Brain

Brenden Dillon – Dylan DeMelo

Starting Goaltender

Martin Jones (Likely)

Anaheim Ducks – 13-9-5 (31 points)

Home Record: 8-4-1

Hot Players: Ryan Kesler, Corey Perry

Key Injuries: Simon Despres, Nate Thompson, Rickard Rakell, Clayton Stoner

Projected Lines:

Forwards

Nick Ritchie – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry

Andrew Cogliano – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg

Logan Shaw – Antoine Vermette – Ondrej Kase

Joseph Cramarossa – Stefan Noesen – Jared Boll

Defense

Cam Fowler – Sami Vatanen

Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson

Shea Theodore – Kevin Bieksa

Starting Goaltender

Steve Bernier

1)The San Jose Sharks are 66-51-4-8 in franchise history against the Anaheim Ducks. Joe Thornton has posted 13 goals and 53 assists in 78 career meetings with the Ducks.

2)Andrew Cogliano has never missed a game in his NHL career. He is the NHL’s active Ironman with 731 consecutive games played. The streak started with his first NHL contest back on October 4, 2007, when the winger skated with the Edmonton Oilers. The streak is the sixth longest in NHL history.

3)The Sharks will have their hands full in the face-off dot. The Ducks lead the NHL in face-off win percentage (56.9%) and the Sharks have struggled all year, ranking 22nd (48.8%) in the league.

4)Sharks special teams have been polar opposites away from Northern California: On the road, the power play has scored only three goals in 35 attempts on the man advantage, ranking 28th. However, the road penalty kill is tied for 8th in the NHL away from SAP Center, allowing six goals in the 37 times the Sharks have been shorthanded (83.8%).

5)The Ducks average 12.6 penalty minutes per game, currently the highest in the NHL.