Red Wings at Sharks preview
Detroit seeks five-game point streak; San Jose aims for sixth straight win
by Ross McKeon / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
RED WINGS (7-12-2) at SHARKS (9-10-1)
10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-D, NHL.TV
The Game
The San Jose Sharks go for their sixth straight win when they host the Detroit Red Wings at SAP Center on Saturday.
San Jose is outscoring opponents 22-14 during its five-game winning streak, including scoring at least four goals in four of them.
Goalie Jimmy Howard will start for the Red Wings, who are 3-0-1 in their last four games and finish a three-game road trip. Detroit lost to the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime on Thursday.
Players to watch
Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha has seven points (two goals, five assists) in a five-game point streak.
Sharks forward Tomas Hertl has a five-game goal streak, one behind Owen Nolan, who scored in a team-record six straight games from Jan. 20-30, 2003.
They said it
"If we have a good outing, we could have a real good trip. I think the energy level is real good and the guys are excited for a real good challenge. We try to take a game by game approach, a shift by shift approach. We're worried about our next game, our next shift, not thinking at all what's happened prior. … We've just got to make sure we play some real good hockey here tonight." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill
"You've won five a row with a big road win last game against a division rival and it's human nature to take a deep breath. And we can't fall into that trap. This team always plays us hard. They're a speed team, which always gives us trouble. The first line has been firing on all cylinders. We've got to make sure we're prepared." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer
Red Wings projected lineup
Tyler Bertuzzi -- Dylan Larkin -- Anthony Mantha
Robby Fabbri -- Valtteri Filppula -- Andreas Athanasiou
Brendan Perlini -- Frans Nielsen -- Adam Erne
Darren Helm -- Christoffer Ehn -- Luke Glendening
Dennis Cholowski -- Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson -- Madison Bowey
Alex Biega -- Dylan McIlrath
Jimmy Howard
Jonathan Bernier
Scratched: Joe Hicketts, Taro Hirose
Injured: Danny DeKeyser (lower body), Trevor Daley (lower body), Justin Abdelkader (mid-body), Patrik Nemeth (infection), Filip Hronek (lower body)
Sharks projected lineup
Evander Kane -- Logan Couture -- Kevin Labanc
Timo Meier -- Tomas Hertl -- Barclay Goodrow
Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Patrick Marleau
Lukas Radil -- Dylan Gambrell -- Melker Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Erik Karlsson
Radim Simek -- Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon -- Mario Ferraro
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Noah Gregor, Tim Heed
Injured: Dalton Prout (upper body)
Status report
Glendening skated in practice Friday and is a game-time decision. … Prout is day-to-day. … Hertl will play after sustaining a knee injury in a 5-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
Stat pack
Kane has five goals in his past six games. … Meier has a five-game point streak (three goals, six assists). ... Larkin has four points (two goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak. ... Erik Karlsson will play his 700th NHL game.