Sharks at Stars preview

SHARKS (20-11-4) at STARS (21-15-3)
8 p.m. ET; FW-SW+, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

Sharks center Logan Couture, who has missed the past four games because of a concussion, will be a game-time decision. Coach Peter DeBoer said Couture will decide whether he's well enough to play. Goaltender Martin Jones will start for San Jose.
Ben Bishop will make his seventh straight start in goal for the Stars. He's won three straight home games.

Players to watch

Sharks defenseman Brent Burns has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a five-game point streak.
Stars forward Jamie Benn has six points (three goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak.

They said it

"It's not what I need to see, it's him saying he feels great. There is nobody that knows or is comfortable to make that decision other than him. That will be his call." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer, on forward Logan Couture's playing status
"They're a puck-moving team that's similar, so it's going to be playing a mirror-image of ourselves. I think that's probably the one thing we can go to the bank on. The rest of the stuff, we really don't know them and they don't know much about us either." -- Stars coach Ken Hitchcock, on the Sharks

Sharks projected lineup

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

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Devin Shore
Mattias Janmark -- Gemel Smith -- Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel -- Radek Faksa -- Tyler Pitlick
Remi Elie -- Jason Spezza -- Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis -- Greg Pateryn
Stephen Johns -- Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched:Jason Dickinson
Injured:Marc Methot (knee), Martin Hanzal (lower body)

Status report

Methot took part in the morning skate and the Stars are monitoring the endurance of his knee. He could play against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. The Stars wil keep Hanzal off the ice until Tuesday, Hitchcock said he hopes Hanzal is back to 100 percent for practice that day.

Stat pack

Thornton has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past nine games and needs three points to tie Adam Oates (1,420) for 17th place in NHL history. Labanc has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past four games. Pavelski has six points (two goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak. … Seguin has four goals in his past four games. The Stars are 12-5 with two ties on Dec. 31 since moving to Dallas in 1993, and the Stars/Minnesota North Stars franchise is 19-13 with three ties all time. San Jose is 7-2-1 all-time on Dec. 31, with all 10 games coming on the road.