Coyotes at Sharks preview

COYOTES (10-28-6) AT SHARKS (21-13-6)
10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-A, NHL.TV

The Sharks are fourth in the Pacific Division with 48 points, four behind the third-place Calgary Flames, who have played 44 games. The Sharks have played 40, tied with the Boston Bruins for the fewest in the NHL.
The Coyotes will play the second of back-to-back games after losing 4-2 to the Edmonton Oilers at Gila River Arena on Friday after their five-day break. Backup goaltender Scott Wedgewood will make his first start and second appearance against San Jose. Arizona is 1-3-1 in its past five games.

Players to watch

Coyotes rookie forward Clayton Keller has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past 11 games.
Sharks defenseman Brent Burns has one goal and four assists during a four-game point streak. He has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in his past 14 games.

They said it

"I think it comes down to hard work. We got to make sure we're outworking these guys. We got to have a good start. If we have a bad start, it's hard to climb up that ice when you're down in an opposing building." -- Coyotes forward Christian Fischer
"Coming into the second half here, I think we're in a good spot, but we want to take it to another level. Everyone is really close to each other [in the standings], so we want to get ahead and win some games." -- Sharks forward Timo Meier

Coyotes projected lineup

Brendan Perlini -- Derek Stepan -- Richard Panik
Christian Fischer -- Max Domi -- Tobias Rieder
Clayton Keller -- Christian Dvorak -- Josh Archibald
Jordan Martinook -- Brad Richardson -- Zac Rinaldo
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Alex Goligoski
Jakob Chychrun -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Kevin Connauton -- Jason Demers
Scott Wedgewood
Antti Raanta
Scratched: Freddie Hamilton, Luke Schenn, Nick Cousins
Injured: None

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Sharks projected lineup

Timo Meier -- Joe Thornton -- Joe Pavelski
Tomas Hertl -- Logan Couture -- Kevin Labanc
Mikkel Boedker -- Chris Tierney -- Joonas Donskoi
Marcus Sorensen
-- Barclay Goodrow -- Melker Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns
Joakim Ryan -- Tim Heed
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Paul Martin, Jannik Hansen, Joel Ward
Injured:Dylan DeMelo (flu)

Status report

Rinaldo will return to the lineup after serving a six-game suspension for an unsuspecting punch on Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard on Dec. 23. ... Boedker will play after being a healthy scratch for the first time this season against Winnipeg.

Stat pack

Thornton is two points shy of tying Adam Oates (1,420) for 17th place on the NHL all-time scoring list.