Sharks at Wild preview

SHARKS (33-21-8) at WILD (34-20-7)
8 p.m. ET; FS-N, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

The Wild are 12-3-3 in the past 18 games and are in third place in the Central Division, one point ahead of the fourth-place Dallas Stars.
San Jose has lost its past two games (0-2-0) after going 5-1-0 in its previous six games. The Sharks are second in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the third-place Calgary Flames.

Players to watch

Sharks forward Joe Pavelski has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in the past nine games.
Wild forward Eric Staal had two goals and two assists in a 4-1 win against the New York Rangers on Friday and has six points (three goals, three assists) during a three-game point streak. He has 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in the past 16 games.

They said it

"[This game] is important because of our situation and we know theirs. It's desperation time here in the sprint to the finish line. They've been playing some really good hockey and we're kind of spinning our wheels the last week, so it's an important game." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer
"We're still fighting tooth and nail every night to put ourselves in a position to make the playoffs. It's something that's very important to be able to continue this [three-game winning streak] at home." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Sharks projected lineup

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

Wild projected lineup

Jason Zucker -- Eric Staal -- Mikael Granlund
Zach Parise -- Mikko Koivu -- Nino Niederreiter
Charlie Coyle -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Tyler Ennis
Daniel Winnik -- Matt Cullen -- Marcus Foligno
Ryan Suter -- Mathew Dumba
Nick Seeler
-- Jared Spurgeon
Mike Reilly -- Nate Prosser
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched: Chris Stewart, Gustav Olofsson
Injured: Jonas Brodin (hand)

Status report

Braun missed the morning skate with the flu and will be a game-time decision. San Jose concludes a four-game road trip. … Stewart was placed on waivers. Brodin practiced for the first time since injuring his hand Feb. 6.

Stat pack

Couture has eight points (three goals, five assists) in the past nine games. … Granlund has five points (two goals, three assists) in the past two games and 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in the past 19 games.