Sharks at Jets preview

SHARKS (42-19-8) at JETS (40-24-4)
8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN3, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

The Sharks, who have outscored opponents 20-9 in five straight victories and are 14-3-1 in their past 18 games, lead the Pacific Division and the Western Conference, one point ahead of the second-place Calgary Flames.
Goalie Aaron Dell is expected to start for San Jose for the first time since making 20 saves in a 5-3 win at the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 24.
The Jets, 4-6-1 in their past 11 games, hold a one-point lead on the Nashville Predators for first place in the Central Division. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck will start for Winnipeg.

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Players to watch

Sharks defenseman Brent Burns has 21 points (four goals, 17 assists) in his past 19 games.
Jets forward Patrik Laine has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past nine games.

They said it

"They were big tonight. We got a back to back, we've got a tough game tomorrow, and they were able to give us a lot of good minutes in the third period so our top lines weren't taxed too hard.'' -- Sharks center Logan Couture on the play of San Jose's fourth line of Micheal Haley, Barclay Goodrow and Melker Karlsson in a 3-0 win at the Minnesota Wild on Monday
"It would be nice to get on a bit of a roll right now and get that good feeling going into the end of the year. We just have to focus on continuing to work at it knowing there aren't any easy games from here on out. It's going to take a lot of commitment from all of us." -- Jets center Mark Scheifele

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
Aaron Dell
Martin Jones
Scratched: Joakim Ryan, Lukas Radil, Dylan Gambrell
Injured: Erik Karlsson (groin), Evander Kane (undisclosed)

Jets projected lineup

Patrik Laine -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Kyle Connor -- Kevin Hayes -- Nikolaj Ehlers
Brandon Tanev -- Adam Lowry -- Bryan Little
Mathieu Perreault -- Andrew Copp -- Jack Roslovic
Nathan Beaulieu -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot -- Sami Niku
Dmitry Kulikov -- Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched: Matt Hendricks, Par Lindholm, Bogdan Kiselevich
Injured: Joe Morrow (lower body), Dustin Byfuglien (lower body), Josh Morrissey (upper body)

Status report

The Sharks did not hold a morning skate. … Morrow took the morning skate in a non-contact jersey.

Stat pack

Meier (five goals, one assist) and Hertl (three goals, three assists) each has a five-game point streak. … Couture is one point shy of 500 in the NHL. … Wheeler has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in his past nine games. … Scheifele has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past six games.