Lightning at Sharks preview

LIGHTNING (31-15-5) at SHARKS (22-26-4)
10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, SUN, NHL.TV

The Lightning, who have won two straight, are 4-2-1 in their past seven games and 14-2-1 in their past 17.
Tampa Bay can improve to 8-0-0 this season against Pacific Division teams; it has won 10 straight against the Pacific dating back to Feb. 12, 2019.
Goalie Curtis McElhinney is expected to start after Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves in a 4-3 win at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday that extended his point streak to 15 games (13-0-2).
Sharks center Joe Thornton is two points shy of becoming the 14th player in NHL history to reach 1,500 points. He has 1,498 points (415 goals, 1,083 assists) in 1,618 League games.
San Jose is 1-4-0 in its past five games after going 5-2-1 in its previous eight.

Players to watch

Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in a six-game point streak, including multiple points in his past five.
Sharks forward Patrick Marleau is one goal shy of passing Mike Modano (561) for sole possession of 25th place on the NHL all-time list.

They said it

"Playing these West teams is hard. It's a different mentality over here. Every team plays a hard, heavy, grinding, big-body kind of hockey. I think we've done a good job of managing it and pushing back." -- Lightning forward Pat Maroon
"We've been kicked a little bit with the injuries, and you have two choices how you want to handle it. We're going with the option to come to the rink every day and work hard together. We talked about being more detailed and structured than the opponent and we control our compete. That's what we're going to focus on." -- Sharks coach Bob Boughner

Lightning projected lineup

Steven Stamkos -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat -- Anthony Cirelli -- Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn -- Cedric Paquette -- Pat Maroon
Carter Verhaeghe -- Mitchell Stephens -- Yanni Gourde
Victor Hedman -- Jan Rutta
Ryan McDonagh -- Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Curtis McElhinney
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Scratched: Luke Schenn, Braydon Coburn
Injured: None

Sharks projected lineup

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

Status report

The Lightning did not hold a morning skate. … Hertl is expected to have season-ending surgery on Monday to repair his torn right ACL and MCL. … Goodrow moves into Hertl's spot as first-line center. … Suomela will play for the first time in three games.

Stat pack

Stamkos has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in a six-game point streak and 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists) in 16 games against San Jose. … Erik Karlsson has 35 points (10 goals, 25 assists) in 34 games against Tampa Bay in his NHL career.