Sharks, Wild each clinch playoff berth

The San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild each clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Monday.
San Jose (44-25-10) clinched when the Colorado Avalanche lost 3-1 at the Los Angeles Kings. The Sharks, who are two points ahead of the Kings for second place in the Pacific Division, did not play Monday.

The Sharks are back in the playoffs despite losing key forwards Patrick Marleau, who signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent July 2 after 19 seasons with San Jose, and Joe Thornton, who sustained a knee injury Jan. 23.
"Those guys have led the way and established something," Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. "[We] try to keep that going and keep passing it on.… We always look up to those guys in a lot of ways. You don't replace that. You don't push that aside."

San Jose, which has made the playoffs in 13 of 14 seasons, lost to the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference First Round last season after reaching the 2016 Stanley Cup Final.
Minnesota (44-25-10), which defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on Monday, clinched when Colorado lost. The Wild are in third place in the Central Division, five points ahead of the Avalanche.
The Wild will enter the playoffs without defenseman Ryan Suter, who will have surgery and is out for the season after he broke his right ankle during a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
Suter ranks second in the NHL with an average of 26:46 of ice time per game, behind Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings (26:47).

This will be the Wild's sixth straight playoff appearance. They lost in the first round the past two seasons.
"It's going to be just as important to build our game going into the playoffs, so it's not like you're going to taking any sort of break regardless of what happens," Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk said.