Blues at Sharks preview

BLUES (7-7-3) at SHARKS (10-7-3)
10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-MW, NHL.TV

The Sharks center is one assist away from Lemieux (1,033). Thornton has five points (three goals, two assists) in 11 games this season.
The Blues are coming off a 4-1 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday at T-Mobile Arena. St. Louis has allowed one or no goals in four of its past five games.
Blues goalie Chad Johnson is expected to start against San Jose for the second time this season. He had a 33-save shutout against the Sharks in a 4-0 victory in St. Louis on Nov. 9.
Goalie Aaron Dell starts for the Sharks. He hasn't started since allowing four goals on 31 shots to the Blues in that loss at Enterprise Center.

Players to watch

Blues center Ryan O'Reilly has 19 points (10 goals, nine assists) in his past 12 games.
Sharks forward Joe Pavelski has a three-game goal streak (four goals, three assist).

They said it

"We tweaked a few things [defensively] maybe two weeks ago and slowly it's really improved. I think guys are getting comfortable together." -- Blues forward David Perron
"I think the key for us will be to stay in that mindset of playing more solid defensively. We have the skill to still score goals without cheating for it. So I think we just need to wait for our chances a little bit more and stop trying to force them." -- Sharks goalie Aaron Dell

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri -- Tyler Bozak -- Brayden Schenn
Zach Sanford -- Robert Thomas -- David Perron
Ivan Barbashev -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Sammy Blais
Jay Bouwmeester -- Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn -- Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson -- Jordan Schmaltz
Chad Johnson
Jake Allen
Scratched:Nikita Soshnikov
Injured: Robert Bortuzzo (lower body), Alexander Steen (upper body), Pat Maroon (upper body), Carl Gunnarsson (upper body)

Sharks projected lineup

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

Status report

Gunnarsson (upper body) was injured early in the second period against Vegas, and Schwartz (undisclosed) midway through the third. Neither player returned. There were no postgame injury updates, and the Blues did not have a morning skate. ... Hertl skated but will miss his second straight game. ... Gambrell was recalled from San Jose of the American Hockey League, and forward Rourke Chartier was sent down.

Stat pack

Tarasenko has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his past nine games.