Devils at Sharks preview
New Jersey seeks season-high, fourth straight win; San Jose has lost five in row
by Ross McKeon / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
DEVILS (25-27-10) at SHARKS (26-33-4)
10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, MSG, NHL.TV
The Game
The New Jersey Devils look to win a season-high fourth straight game when they visit the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Thursday.
The Devils, who defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday to start a five-game trip, are 7-3-0 in their past 10 games. New Jersey last won three in a row from Dec. 29-Jan. 2.
Goalie Cory Schneider will make consecutive starts for the Devils for the first time since Oct. 12 and 14.
San Jose, which has lost five straight in regulation, begins a six-game homestand. The Sharks were outscored 18-9 on the road trip, including a 2-1 loss at the Devils on Feb. 20.
Players to watch
Devils forward Jesper Bratt has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past four games.
Sharks forward Timo Meier has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past 10 games.
They said it
"If you look at last game, he was very solid and made the big plays when he needed to. And he earned it with his play to go in again." -- Devils coach Alain Nasreddine on starting Cory Schneider
"That was a long road trip with a lot of emotions surrounding the team. … but we've got to change our expectations that we expect to win this game tonight. It's not good enough to go out compete and say we've got a lot of young guys in the lineup." -- Sharks coach Bob Boughner
Devils projected lineup
Jack Hughes -- Nico Hischier -- Kyle Palmieri
Miles Wood -- Travis Zajac -- Joey Anderson
Jesper Bratt -- Pavel Zacha -- Nikita Gusev
Kevin Rooney -- Michael McLeod -- John Hayden
Mirco Mueller -- P.K. Subban
Dakota Mermis -- Damon Severson
Fredrik Claesson -- Connor Carrick
Cory Schneider
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scratched: Josh Jacobs
Injured: Will Butcher (upper body)
Sharks projected lineup
Evander Kane -- Logan Couture -- Noah Gregor
Timo Meier -- Joe Thornton -- Dylan Gambrell
Marcus Sorensen -- Alexander True -- Kevin Labanc
Lean Bergmann -- Joel Kellman -- Stefan Noesen
Radim Simek -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Mario Ferraro
Jacob Middleton -- Tim Heed
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Brandon Davidson, Antti Suomela
Injured: Melker Karlsson (lower body), Tomas Hertl (knee), Dalton Prout (concussion), Erik Karlsson (broken thumb)
Status report
Kane missed the morning skate but will play, Boughner said. … Prout, a defenseman, is practicing with the team, and is day to day.
Stat pack
Schneider is 4-7-2 with a 3.33 goals-against average in 13 games against San Jose. … Labanc need two assists for 100 in the NHL. … New Jersey has points in 11 of its past 14 games (8-3-3).