Blues at Sharks preview

BLUES (22-8-6) at SHARKS (16-18-2)
10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, FS-MW, NHL.TV

The Central Division-leading Blues advanced past the Sharks in six games before winning their first Stanley Cup in seven games against the Boston Bruins.
St. Louis seeks its fifth straight victory following a three-game losing streak. Goalie Jake Allen will make his second straight start after making 35 saves in a 2-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
Forwards Stefan Noesen and Joel Kellman will each play his first game for the Sharks, who are 1-6-1 in their past eight games after going 11-2-0 in their previous 13.
San Jose claimed Noesen off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday and Kellman will make his NHL debut after he was called up from San Jose of the American Hockey League, also on Thursday.

Players to watch

Blues center Ryan O'Reilly has five assists in a four-game point streak.
Sharks forward Tomas Hertl has five points (four goals, one assist) in a four-game point streak, and has scored at least one goal in three straight.

They said it

"They've got a lot of good players over there, they're a good team. They're just trying to find their way right now. It's a tough game, it's a tough building. Going back to the playoffs last year, we've got to be ready to go. We've got to take this game as serious as we've taken any game this year." -- Blues coach Craig Berube
"We're in the thick of things right now, and we're just trying to get wins. … We've been killing ourselves with big mistakes, which has been the case for most of the year. We've got to get away from that." -- Sharks center Logan Couture

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Jordan Kyrou
Oskar Sundqvist -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron
Alexander Steen -- Robert Thomas -- Tyler Bozak
MacKenzie MacEachern
--
Jacob de la Rose
-- Ivan Barbashev
Justin Faulk -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Jordan Binnington
Scratched: Niko Mikkola, Troy Brouwer, Zach Sanford
Injured: Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Sammy Blais (wrist), Erik Foley (concussion), Carl Gunnarsson (upper body)

Sharks projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Logan Couture -- Patrick Marleau
Tomas Hertl -- Joe Thornton -- Kevin Labanc
Marcus Sorensen -- Barclay Goodrow -- Timo Meier
Melker Karlsson -- Joel Kellman -- Stefan Noesen
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Erik Karlsson
Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns
Jake Middleton -- Tim Heed
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Noah Gregor, Antti Suomela
Injured:Dalton Prout (upper body), Radim Simek (knee), Mario Ferraro (upper body)

Status report

Bozak returns after missing one game because of illness. … Barbashev will play after missing two with an upper-body injury. … Ferraro participated in the morning skate but will not play. … Simek skated on his own but will not play this weekend.

Stat pack

Schenn is one point shy of 400 in the NHL. … Couture will play his 700th game in the League. … Thornton needs two assists to tie Adam Oates (1,079) for seventh place on the NHL all-time list.