While the Sharks began January with impressive home wins over the potentially playoff-bound Tampa Bay Lightning and New Jersey Devils, they ended it by winning just two of their last 12 games, with a handful of those losses being blowouts, or just devastating.

Good news for the San Jose Sharks. Injured goaltender Vitek Vanecek has recovered and has resumed practicing. However, the goaltender is not scheduled to be in the lineup for the time being.

With an often shaky defense in front of him, Askarov, over his last four appearances, is 0-3-0 with a .852 save percentage. In his last two games, he’s allowed nine goals on 55 shots. Saturday against the Florida Panthers, he and Alexandar Georgiev combined to stop just 25 of 32 shots in a 7-2 loss.

It may not be a matchup between two of the league’s best teams, but the San Jose Sharks and Seattle Kraken get the honor of the national ESPN broadcast on Thursday night. The Sharks can barely buy a win recently,

Tonight, the San Jose Sharks hit the road for a one-game trip against the Seattle Kraken. Welcome back to NHL Predictions! Today, like every day, Last Word on Hockey looks at the games happening and gives our predictions for each.