Blues at Sharks preview

BLUES (36-25-6) at SHARKS (40-19-8)
4 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSCA, FS-MW, NHL.TV

The Sharks trail the idle Calgary Flames by one point and lead the third-place Vegas Golden Knights by nine points. San Jose has won three straight, outscoring its opponents 14-7, and is 12-3-1 in its past 16 games.
Sharks center Joe Thornton is one point from tying Stan Mikita (1,467) for 14th place on the NHL's all-time list. He has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in his past 13 games.
Forward Vladimir Tarasenko is day to day with an upper-body injury and won't play for the Blues, who are in third place in the Central Division, five points behind the second-place Nashville Predators and six points behind the first-place Winnipeg Jets. They've won two straight and are 15-3-1 in their past 19 games. St. Louis has allowed at least four goals in three of its past four games.

Players to watch

Blues center Ryan O'Reilly has three points (two goals, one assist) in his past two games after going five games without a point.
Sharks forward Timo Meier has a goal in three straight games.

They said it

"We're working our way up the mountain. I don't think, to be honest, we're where we were for that 11-game win streak, but I think we're progressing and it's a good thing. We're building it back." -- Blues goalie Jake Allen
"He's a great player. Ever since we started together I've just loved it. He works so hard, skates so hard. I always thought he was a very underrated player, even last year and the year before. Getting a chance to play with him, great skill, he sees the ice well. We enjoy playing with each other." -- Sharks center Joe Thornton on linemate Marcus Sorensen, who has scored a NHL career-high 15 goals

Blues projected lineup

Brayden Schenn -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Jaden Schwartz
Pat Maroon -- Tyler Bozak -- Robert Thomas
Zach Sanford -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Alexander Steen
Mackenzie MacEachern -- Ivan Barbashev -- Sammy Blais
Joel Edmundson -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn -- Robert Bortuzzo

Jake Allen
Jordan Binnington
Scratched: , Robby Fabbri, Michael Del Zotto
Injured: David Perron (upper body), Vladimir Tarasenko (upper body)

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

Status report

Schwartz will take Tarasenko's spot on the first line, and Sanford will draw in. ... Allen will make his second straight start. He's started five of 21 games since Jan. 17, all in back-to-back situations.

Stat pack

Schenn has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in his past seven games. … Pavelski has 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in his past 17 games but just two points (goal, assist) in his past four.