Preview: Sharks at Red Wings

SHARKS (3-2-0) at RED WINGS (3-2-0)
7 p.m. ET; FS-D, CSN-CA, NHL.TV

Sharks team scope

Martin Jones is expected to be in goal for the San Jose Sharks, who enter the finale of their five-game road trip with a 2-2-0 record after a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday. Defenseman Brent Burns has three goals and six assists in five games, and enters Saturday tied with Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand for the NHL lead with nine points. Burns was a forward in the Ontario Hockey League, and thinks that background has helped on the blue line. "It certainly isn't hurting me," he said. "It's been a lot of hard work, but I've had great coaches and I'm playing with guys like Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau. I've learned a lot from them." The Sharks are making their last scheduled visit to Joe Louis Arena, a building that has a lot of personal meaning to coach Peter DeBoer. He played for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League and later coached the Detroit Whalers, winning an OHL title at the Joe. "I went to my first concert here in about 1986; I think it was Bon Jovi," he said. "Then I came here with Paul Maurice and Jimmy Rutherford with the Whalers, and we would practice right after the Red Wings when they had Scotty Bowman, Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom and all the great Russian players. That was a lot of fun."

Red Wings team scope

Goalie Jimmy Howard gets the start for the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, three days after he made 32 saves in a 2-1 road win against the New York Rangers. Petr Mrazek played Friday in a 5-3 victory against the Nashville Predators. "It is really good to get back out there so quickly, especially after playing so well," he said after the morning skate. "This season, with the condensed schedule, every team is going to be using two goalies more often, so it helps to get regular work." Detroit has won three straight after starting the season with road losses to the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Forward Darren Helm thinks speed is the biggest factor. "We're playing a lot faster this year than we did in the past, and you can see the difference it is making," said Helm, who leads the team with four goals. "We know we got lucky when [Howard] saved us in New York, but we came right back and played a great game Friday against the Predators. We have to do that again against the Sharks."

Sharks projected lineup

Tomas Hertl -- Joe Pavelski -- Joe Thornton
Mikkel Boedker -- Logan Couture -- Joonas Donskoi
Patrick Marleau -- Joel Ward -- Chris Tierney
Matt Nieto -- Tommy Wingels -- Melker Karlsson
Paul Martin -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon -- David Schlemko
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched:Dylan DeMelo, Micheal Haley
Injured:None

Red Wings projected lineup

Justin Abdelkader -- Frans Nielsen -- Dylan Larkin
Tomas Tatar -- Henrik Zetterberg -- Riley Sheahan
Thomas Vanek -- Darren Helm -- Gustav Nyquist
Drew Miller -- Luke Glendening -- Steve Ott
Danny DeKeyser -- Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson -- Alexey Marchenko
Brendan Smith -- Ryan Sproul
Jimmy Howard
Petr Mrazek
Scratched: Xavier Ouellet, Andreas Athanasiou
Injured:Niklas Kronwall (knee), Tomas Jurco (back)

Status report

The Sharks, who list no injuries, will dress the same lineup they used in Pittsburgh in the finale of a five-game, eight-day trip. … Detroit held an optional morning skate, with only a few veterans taking part. Coach Jeff Blashill said he wouldn't make final lineup decisions until game time, but Howard confirmed he was scheduled to start.

Who's hot

San Jose linemates Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl have combined for 15 points in five games. Burns has points in all five games this season. … Green has a team-high seven points in five games for Detroit, and Vanek is next with six.