Stars @ Sharks

Who will WIN this matchup?

Dallas Stars (26-14-4)

@ San Jose Sharks (20-22-4)

Starting Goalies:

Anton Khudobin (DAL): Confirmed

Aaron Dell (SJ): Confirmed

Current odds:

Dallas Stars: (-125)

San Jose Sharks: (+105)

• A six-game winning streak has vaulted the Dallas Stars into second place in the rugged Central Division as they continue their road trip Saturday against the San Jose Sharks. Dallas, which sits seven points behind defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis, defeated Anaheim 3-0 on Thursday behind 27 saves and an assist from Ben Bishop, and has allowed two or fewer goals in every game during its run. “It’s nice and it’s been fun to win, but you can’t take your foot off the pedal in this league,” Dallas interim coach Rick Bowness told reporters. “It’s too tight. The standings are just too tight and you can’t relax, and we won’t.”

• San Jose is coming off a 3-1 victory over Columbus on Thursday as it began life without captain Logan Couture, who is expected to miss at least six weeks after sustaining a fractured ankle in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss at St. Louis. “Winning is fun, we haven’t had a ton of it this year,” Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell told reporters after his club won for only the fifth time in its last 18 games (5-10-3). “We’re heading in the right direction. We’re doing a lot of the little things better (and) more consistently throughout the whole game. That’s a key for us right now.” San Jose’s Patrick Marleau on Saturday is set to play his 1,700th game – fifth on the all-time list – and is 69 shy of breaking Gordie Howe’s record with Mark Messier (1,756), Jaromir Jagr (1,733) and Ron Francis (1,731) in between.

• Alexander Radulov (28 points, team-high plus-13 rating) scored Thursday and has four of his 13 goals in the last seven games. Tyler Seguin increased his club-leading point total to 34 by recording an assist in each of the last two contests and Roope Hintz scored his club-best 15th goal into an empty net against Anaheim. Esa Lindell has eight assists during his career-high five-game point streak while fellow blueliner John Klingberg missed the last three contests with a lower-body injury.

• Joe Thornton on Thursday scored his second goal of the season in his 1,612th career game, tying Ray Bourque for 11th all-time. Kevin Labanc recorded a goal and an assist versus Columbus, giving him four points in five January games, but shares the worst plus-minus rating on the team with Brent Burns at minus-21. Dell has started four of the last five games (3-1-0, .933 save percentage) and eight of 13 since interim coach Bob Boughner took over as No. 1 Martin Jones (.890 SP) is having his worst season.

• San Jose is 4-for-8 with the man advantage in its last four games while the league’s No. 1 penalty-killing unit is 13-for-13 in the past six contests.

• Dallas has scored a power-play goal in four straight games, going 6-for-12 during that span, and its penalty-killing unit is 18-for-20 over the last six contests.

• The Sharks prevailed 3-2 in the last meeting Dec. 13, 2018 to snap a three-game series slide and have won only two of the last eight encounters.