Preview/Lines #67: Johnsson for Burning Gävle Goat

Andreas Johnsson is pro-burn.

Johnsson, who hails from Gavle, Sweden, smiled when I asked him about the tradition of the Gavle Goat.

Every Christmas, in Gavle’s town square, a giant wooden straw goal is erected. And every year, a number of locals try to get away with burning it down.

Since the goat’s first appearance in 1966, 38 of 57 goats have been damaged or destroyed.

It’s illegal to burn it down, so it’s a real cat-and-mouse game to try to vandalize it without getting caught.

According to Wikipedia, gamblers have been able to bet on the goat’s fate since 1988.

Anyway, Johnsson says he left Gavle when he was two or three, and lives in Gothenburg now.

A likely story!

Johnsson swears that he’s never been on a goat-burning mission.

Thanks to reader Stephan Hodges for the story idea!

San Jose Sharks (19-35-12)

James Reimer starts, otherwise, according to David Quinn, it should be the same Sharks’ line-up.

MacDonald & Simek are week-to-week with their upper-body injuries. Some optimism that Simek can return by the end of the season, but obv, that kind of injury, there's a need to be as cautious as possible. Gadjovich says he's feel better and better, though still no timeline

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 11, 2023

Minnesota Wild (37-21-7)

Fleury in net for #mnwild tonight. Gustavsson tomorrow

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) March 11, 2023

Could the Wild line up so?

#mnwild lines without Kaprizov, Duhaime and Brodin:

Steel-Hartman-Zuccarello
Johansson-Eriksson Ek-Boldy
Foligno-Gaudreau-Sundqvist
Shaw-Dewar-Reaves
Walker

Middleton-Spurgeon
Goligoski-Dumba
Merrill-Klingberg
Addison

— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) March 10, 2023

Where to Watch

The San Jose Sharks will take on the Minnesota Wild at 7:30 PM PST at SAP Center. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.