Sharks at Blues preview

SHARKS (32-19-8) at BLUES (34-22-4)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

Burns missed the final 16:35 of a 5-2 victory against the Dallas Stars on Sunday because of an undisclosed injury.
The Sharks, 4-1-0 their past five games, are in second place in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the Anaheim Ducks.
The Blues, who have lost three straight, are looking to avoid their longest losing streak of the season. St. Louis is tied with the Dallas Stars for third place in the Central Division with 72 points.

Players to watch

Sharks center Joe Pavelski has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past six games.
Blues goalie Carter Hutton is 4-0-1 with a 0.98 goals-against average, a .968 save percentage and two shutouts in five games against San Jose.

They said it

"I think had the score not been what it was, I would have guessed he would have battled through it, but it just made sense on all our parts to do the right thing considering the situation." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer on removing defenseman Brent Burns from the game Sunday with a 5-0 lead
"They play with structure, it's always a team that's been very responsible in terms of the way they manage the puck. They've got real good character guys over there, guys that have won a lot of hockey games, know how to win and are willing to do it." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo on the Sharks

Sharks projected lineup

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

Blues projected lineup

Alexander Steen -- Paul Stastny -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Sammy Blais
Ivan Barbashev -- Kyle Brodziak -- Patrik Berglund
Scottie Upshall -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Dmitrij Jaskin
Carl Gunnarsson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Chris Butler -- Vince Dunn
Carter Hutton
Jake Allen
Scratched:Chris Thorburn
Injured:Joel Edmundson (forearm), Robert Bortuzzo (lower body), Vladimir Sobotka (illness)

Status report

Hertl and Ward were placed on injured reserve Monday. DeBoer said he expects Hertl to play on the trip at some point. Ward is week to week and not likely to play on the trip. ... Martin was recalled from San Jose of the American Hockey League on Monday in case Burns was unable to play. ... Sobotka will miss his first game of the season. ... Butler will play his second NHL game since the 2015-16 season. ... Sundqvist will play for the first time since Jan. 9.

Stat pack

Burns has 25 points (four goals, 21 assists) in his past 23 games. ... Steen has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in his past 14 games.