The Sharks have a chance to pull even closer at SAP Center on Sunday when they face a short-handed Kings team that will be without suspended top-line forward Milan Lucic.
Lucic was suspended one game without pay Sunday by the NHL's Department of Player Safety for roughing Arizona Coyotes defenseman Kevin Connauton at 6:55 of the third period Saturday night. This is the third suspension of Lucic's career.
Tanner Pearson is expected to move from the fourth line to the top line while forward Jordan Nolan replaces Lucic in the lineup.
"We want to put as much pressure on them as we possibly can," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said after a team meeting Sunday morning. "You only get so many of these opportunities for these four-point games. This is an important game for us."
The Sharks have gone 7-0-1 in their past eight games, a run that started Jan. 9 with a 7-0 home victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Kings are 3-3-1 over their past seven games and have lost two straight.
"Yeah, it's a big game," Sharks center Logan Couture said. "We can inch a little bit closer to these guys. It seemed like not too long ago we were pretty far away from them. So yeah, it's a very, very big game."
The Sharks were 18-18-2 with 38 points going into their game against Toronto, one point ahead of the last-place Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific. The Kings were 26-12-2 with 54 points.
At that point, the Sharks were 5-12-0 at home. Since then they've gone 4-0-1 at SAP Center.
"We want to keep that rolling, especially at home, especially against a rival," Couture said. "We want to stay hot. Everyone's playing pretty well right now so hopefully we can keep it going."
Sharks goaltender Martin Jones will start against his former team for the fourth time since season. He's 2-1-0 with a 2.67 goals-against average and .906. save percentage against the Kings.
"He's got the game face the same every game," DeBoer said. "But, you know there's extra emotion there. There always is when you're playing your old team, and it's not that far in the rearview mirror. It's still pretty fresh that I'm sure that he's got a little extra excitement here today."
The Kings, who are coming off a 3-2 loss to Arizona Coyotes, did not have a morning skate Sunday. It's not known who they'll have in net, Jonathan Quick or backup Jhonas Enroth.
Quick started his eighth straight game Saturday. He's 0-2-0 with a 4.52 GAA and .833 save percentage against the Sharks this season
Enroth is 1-0-0 with a 1.01 GAA and .975 save percentage this season against the Sharks. He made 39 saves Oct. 22 in the 4-1 win. Enroth is 4-0-0 with a 1.19 GAA and .962 save percentage against San Jose in his career.
Here are the projected lineups:
KINGS
Tanner Pearson - Anze Kopitar - Tyler Toffoli
Dwight King - Jeff Carter - Dustin Brown
Marian Gaborik - Vincent Lecavalier - Trevor Lewis
Andy Andreoff - Nicholas Shore - Jordan Nolan
Brayden McNabb - Drew Doughty
Jake Muzzin - Alec Martinez
Christian Ehrhoff - Luke Schenn
Jonathan Quick
Jhonas Enroth
Injured: Matt Greene (shoulder), Kyle Clifford (upper body)
Scratched: Jamie McBain
SHARKS
Tomas Hertl - Joe Thornton - Joe Pavelski
Matt Nieto - Patrick Marleau - Joel Ward
Joonas Donskoi - Logan Couture - Tommy Wingels
Melker Karlsson - Chris Tierney - Mike Brown
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Justin Braun
Paul Martin - Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon - Dylan DeMelo
Martin Jones
Alex Stalock
Injured: None
Scratched: Matt Tennyson, Dainius Zubrus
Status report: Zubrus will be a healthy scratch for the third straight game since being activated from injured reserve. He was on IR for seven games with an upper-body injury. "He could play if we needed him, but I also think he's benefiting from the rest with what he was dealing with," DeBoer said. "It just doesn't make sense to make any changes."
Who's hot: Thornton has an eight-game point streak (two goals, nine assists). ... Pavelski scored his NHL-leading eighth game-winning goal Saturday against the Minnesota Wild. He has four points in his past two games. ... Toffoli has three goals in his past six games and leads the Kings with 22 goals.
