Sharks at Oilers preview

SHARKS (32-16-7) at OILERS (24-25-5)
7 p.m. ET; SN, SN360, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

The Sharks are 18-5-2 in their past 25 games and have allowed two goals in the past three games.
Goalie Martin Jones is expected to start for San Jose, who did not have a morning skate Saturday.
The Oilers are 1-4-2 in their past seven games. They ended a six-game losing streak with a 4-1 win at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Cam Talbot will make his third straight start in goal for Edmonton.

Players to watch

Sharks defenseman Brent Burns has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in a five-game point streak. He leads NHL defensemen in scoring with 61 points (11 goals, 50 assists) in 55 games.
Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl has five goals in his past three games. He has 10 points (eight goals, two assists) in his past six games and leads the Oilers with an NHL career high 32 goals this season.

They said it

"A healthy Joe Thornton creates mismatches. He turns depth players into very-good players. That's the key to success in this league."-- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer to the Bay Area News Group on center Joe Thornton, who registered his 1,000th point with San Jose in a 5-2 win at the Calgary Flames on Thursday
"When he's square and angled towards the shooter, he's terrific positionally. There was a period of time at the start of the year where he got flat and so as the shooters got closer, they got to see more openings. " -- Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock on goalie Cam Talbot

Sharks projected lineup

Timo Meier -- Logan Couture -- Joe Pavelski
Evander Kane -- Tomas Hertl -- Joonas Donskoi
Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Kevin Labanc
Barclay Goodrow -- Dylan Gambrell -- Melker Karlsson
Radim Simek -- Brent Burns
Marc-Eduard Vlasic -- Tim Heed
Brendan Dillon -- Justin Braun
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Joakim Ryan, Lukas Radil
Injured: Erik Karlsson (undisclosed)

Oilers projected lineup

Leon Draisaitl -- Connor McDavid -- Ty Rattie
Milan Lucic Ryan -- Nugent-Hopkins -- Alex Chiasson
Jujhar Khaira -- Brad Malone -- Zack Kassian
Tobias Rieder -- Kyle Brodziak -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Oscar Klefbom -- Adam Larsson
Darnell Nurse -- Kris Russell
Kevin Gravel -- Brandon Manning
Cam Talbot
Mikko Koskinen
Scratched: Alexander Petrovic, Colby Cave
Injured: Matt Benning (upper body)

Status report

Brodziak will return after being a healthy scratch at Minnesota on Thursday … Petrovic will be a healthy scratch for the fifth straight game.

Stat pack

Thornton needs two assists to tie Gordie Howe (1,049) for ninth on the NHL all-time list … Meier has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past six games … Pavelski has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his past five games. He needs one assist for 400 in the NHL … McDavid has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in a six-game point streak.