Sharks at Coyotes preview

SHARKS (21-22-4) at COYOTES (25-18-5)
9 p.m. ET; FS-A PLUS, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

The defenseman, who has played in 518 consecutive games since Nov. 21, 2013, sustained an upper-body injury during the Sharks' 2-1 win against the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Burns, listed as probable, had a goal and an assist against Dallas.
The Sharks eye their third straight victory; they're 4-1-1 in their past six games after going 2-9-2 in their previous 13.
The Coyotes, winless in three straight (0-2-1) after a four-game winning streak, are 3-0-1 in their past four home games; they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in an eight-round shootout on Sunday.

Players to watch

Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson has six points (one goal, five assists) in a five-game point streak and needs three points for 600 in the NHL.
Coyotes forward Taylor Hall has six points (two goals, four assists) in six home games since being acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 16 and has 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in 31 games against San Jose.

They said it

"What we want to do as a team is playing that team mentality. It can't be just a one-man show or one guy that's going to be able to win the game for us. When we had that mindset, we played one of our best games of the year against Dallas." -- Sharks defenseman Brenden Dillon
"They [the Sharks] are always a dangerous team, a well-coached team. They have a lot of veteran guys who know how to play the game. Every game is big right now, and when you play teams in your division, these games are four-point games." -- Coyotes forward Taylor Hall

Sharks projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Tomas Hertl -- Kevin Labanc
Patrick Marleau -- Antti Suomela -- Timo Meier
Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Barclay Goodrow
Melker Karlsson -- Joel Kellman -- Stefan Noesen
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Erik Karlsson
Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns
Radim Simek -- Mario Ferraro
Aaron Dell
Martin Jones
Scratched: Joachim Blichfeld, Tim Heed
Injured: Logan Couture (fractured ankle), Dalton Prout (upper body)

Coyotes projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Christian Dvorak -- Conor Garland
Clayton Keller -- Carl Soderberg -- Nick Schmaltz
Lawson Crouse -- Derek Stepan -- Phil Kessel
Michael Grabner -- Brad Richardson -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Jordan Oesterle -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Adin Hill
Ivan Prosvetov
Scratched: Ilya Lyubushkin, Christian Fischer
Injured: Darcy Kuemper (lower body), Antti Raanta (lower body), Barrett Hayton (upper body)

Status report

Couture, the Sharks' No. 1 center, is expected to miss another five to six weeks. He last played on Jan. 7. … Goodrow (illness) missed practice Monday. … Raanta, a goalie, is day to day. … Kuemper, a goalie chosen for the NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 26, isn't expected to play before then.

Stat pack

Thornton is two games from tying Larry Murphy (1,615) for 10th place on the NHL all-time list and is three points from 1,500 in the League. … The Coyotes have 23 goals in six home games since Hall joined them.