Sharks at Wild preview

SHARKS (41-19-8) at WILD (33-28-8)
8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN1, SNE, SNP, NHL.TV

The Sharks, 13-3-1 in their past 17 games, have scored at least four goals in six of their past nine while outscoring opponents 17-9 during the winning streak.
Goalie Martin Jones, who is 4-0-0 with 2.22 goals against average and .920 save percentage in his past four games, will start for San Jose, which trails the Calgary Flames by one point for first place in the Pacific Division and Western Conference.
The Wild are 6-1-2 in their past nine games, allowing three goals or fewer in six of them. Goalie Devan Dubnyk is 6-1-1 with a 2.02 GAA, .931 save percentage and one shutout in his past eight starts.
Minnesota is one point behind the Dallas Stars for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the West.

Players to watch

Sharks defenseman Brent Burns has 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) in his past 18 games.
Wild forward Jason Zucker has eight points (six goals, two assists) in his past eight games.

They said it

"(Minnesota is) playing well. I think they've shuffled their group around a little bit at the trade deadline and they've got a different energy to them. …They defend hard, so we're going to have to work for our offense here tonight." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer
"If we don't know after 69 games how big these games are, then we're in bigger trouble than we think. Again, we're playing one of the elite teams in the League and a team that's playing well. … So it's going to be a great test for us, and it's a great test at home." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau

Sharks projected lineup

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

Wild projected lineup

Jordan Greenway -- Eric Staal -- Jason Zucker
Zach Parise -- Victor Rask -- Kevin Fiala
Ryan Donato -- Joel Eriksson Ek -- Pontus Aberg
Marcus Foligno -- Eric Fehr -- JT Brown
Ryan Suter -- Jared Spurgeon
Jonas Brodin -- Brad Hunt
Greg Pateryn -- Anthony Bitetto
Devan Dubnyk
Alex Stalock
Scratched:Nick Seeler
Injured:Mikko Koivu (knee), Mathew Dumba (ruptured right pectoral muscle), Luke Kunin (upper body)

Status report

Kane did not make the trip and there is no timetable for his return. … Rask returns after missing 12 games with a lower-body injury.

Stat pack

Pavelski has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past 10 games. … Meier has five goals in a four-game goal streak and is one point away from 100 in his NHL career. … Donato has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past nine games.