At the Rink: Sharks at Jets

WINNIPEG -- The San Jose Sharks have an opportunity to edge closer to the Stanley Cup Playoff line in the Western Conference when they visit the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.

The Sharks begin a seven-game road trip five points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the playoffs in the Western Conference. San Jose is also five points behind the Calgary Flames for third place in the Pacific Division.

Winnipeg trails Los Angeles by one point for the second wild card.

But if the Sharks are to catch the Kings or Flames, first they must pass the Jets. After the game Tuesday, the Sharks do not play a Western Conference team in playoff contention until the final game of the season, April 11 at Los Angeles.

"Tonight will be even better if we win because it [would go from a potential six-point gap] to two points," Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said.

The Sharks have won four of their past six games to pull themselves back into playoff contention. San Jose coach Todd McLellan will reinsert veteran defenseman Scott Hannan into the lineup and scratch Mirco Mueller.

"This is a very important game for our [team]," McLellan said. "It's an opportunity for us to start a long road trip off on the right foot, so it's a really, really important game for our [team]. It's probably an understatement, but we've got to come out ready to play."

McLellan emphasized the need to start the road trip well and establish a habit of being able to adjust to the various challenges each opponent will present.

"I think that each night there are different challenges," McLellan said. "Here, we're going to have to be good along the walls, good at the lines, good in the blue paint because of [the Jets'] size and tenacity.

"The next [game] might change the challenge, but what we have to do is execute. We have to be prepared, we have to execute, be clean in all areas of the rink and we can't let the negativity, if it doesn't go our way, creep in and snowball."

McLellan will start goalie Antti Niemi for the sixth consecutive game and the 10th time in the past 11 games.

Winnipeg will have defenseman Tyler Myers back on its blue line after he missed one game because of an upper-body injury.

Possibly joining Myers in the Winnipeg lineup is defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, who has missed four games because of an upper-body injury. Byfuglien practiced Monday and participated in the morning skate, but Jets coach Paul Maurice said he will be a game-time decision.

If Byfuglien is not able to dress, defenseman Jay Harrison would likely remain in the lineup.

But having Byfuglien join Myers would strengthen Maurice's game plan for the Sharks.

"Where we have struggled with San Jose is how much ice we gave them to play on," Maurice said. "We've been good in the past five or six games of playing a pretty tight game, and that has to be our focus here tonight."

Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec will start for the second consecutive game, the first time he has made two starts in a row since Nov. 20-23, 2014.

Here are the projected lineups:

SHARKS

Melker Karlsson - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski

Patrick Marleau - Logan Couture - Matt Nieto

Tommy Wingels - Chris Tierney - Tomas Hertl

John Scott - Ben Smith - Barclay Goodrow

Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun

Matt Irwin - Brent Burns

Scott Hannan - Brenden Dillon

Antti Niemi

Alex Stalock

Scratched: Mirco Mueller, Daniil Tarasov

Injured: Mike Brown (leg), Raffi Torres (knee)

JETS

Andrew Ladd - Adam Lowry - Michael Frolik

Drew Stafford - Mark Scheifele - Blake Wheeler

Jiri Tlusty - Jim Slater - Lee Stempniak

Chris Thorburn - Eric O'Dell - Matt Halischuk

Toby Enstrom - Tyler Myers

Mark Stuart - Jacob Trouba

Adam Pardy - Dustin Byfuglien

Ondrej Pavelec

Michael Hutchinson

Scratched: Keaton Ellerby, TJ Galiardi, Jay Harrison, Anthony Peluso

Injured: Ben Chiarot (upper body) Grant Clitsome (back), Bryan Little (upper body), Mathieu Perreault (lower body), Paul Postma (lower body)

Status report: Little will miss his fifth consecutive game, and his return is not considered imminent. … A further update on Postma could be available later this week. Postma played his first game Saturday since Jan. 8.

Who's hot: Karlsson has three goals in his past five games. … Pavelski has a goal and six assists in his past eight games. … Wheeler has three goals and three assists in his past four games.