Golden Knights at Sharks preview

GOLDEN KNIGHTS (40-27-5) at SHARKS (43-21-8)
10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSCA, ATTSN-RN, NHL.TV

The Sharks missed chances to clinch in each of their past two games. They trail the Calgary Flames by one point for first in the Pacific Division and Western Conference. They're nine points ahead of the third-place Golden Knights in the division.
Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury remains day to day with a lower-body injury and will miss his second straight game. Malcolm Subban, who made 16 saves in a 6-3 victory against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, likely will start.
Vegas is 8-1-0 in its past nine games.

Players to watch

Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his past 11 games.
Sharks forward Logan Couture, who has gone three games without a point, needs one for 500 in the NHL.

They said it

"They're a great team. They have a lot of skilled players. It's going to be a challenge for sure." -- Golden Knights center William Karlsson
"Against this team we always have slower starts, so we have to be ready because they a lot of times jump on us and we're not ready." -- Sharks forward Tomas Hertl

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty -- Paul Stastny -- Mark Stone
Tomas Nosek -- Cody Eakin -- Alex Tuch
Ryan Carpenter -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Ryan Reaves
Nate Schmidt -- Deryk Engelland
Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore
Jon Merrill -- Colin Miller
Malcolm Subban
Maxime Lagace
Scratched:Valentin Zykov, Nick Holden, Brandon Pirri
Injured:Erik Haula (lower body), William Carrier (upper body), Marc-Andre Fleury (lower body)

Sharks projected lineup

Timo Meier -- Logan Couture -- Joe Pavelski
Evander Kane -- Tomas Hertl -- Gustav Nyquist
Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Kevin Labanc
Micheal Haley -- Barclay Goodrow -- Melker Karlsson
Joakim Ryan -- Brent Burns
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Tim Heed
Brenden Dillon -- Justin Braun
Martin Jones
Aaron Dell
Scratched: Joonas Donskoi, Jacob Middleton, Lukas Radil
Injured: Erik Karlsson (groin), Radim Simek (right knee)

Status report

The Golden Knights did not have a morning skate. … Donskoi, who was scratched against the Nashville Predators for the first time this season, could return. … Pavelski's status is unclear. He took a hard hit from Predators forward Filip Forsberg and fell awkwardly at 12:26 of the first period and missed the next 6:30 before returning. He did not skate Sunday or Monday. … Erik Karlsson skated for a third straight day but will miss his ninth consecutive game and has been ruled out of the next two games this week.

Stat pack

Stone has six points (three goals, three assists) during a five-game point streak. … Meier has eight points (six goals, two assists) in his past eight games.