Morning Skate: Sharks can clinch playoff spot Tuesday night

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Programming note 
Sharks-Blues coverage starts tonight at 7:00 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California

Where they stand

Sharks: 41-25-6, 88 points, 3rd Pacific Division
Blues: 42-22-9, 93 points, 2nd Central Division

Playoff picture

The Sharks trail the Kings by five points and the Ducks by one point in the Pacific Division. The Ducks have one game in hand.

Anaheim is in Montreal tonight, while the Kings visit the Wild.

The Sharks will clinch a playoff berth if they defeat the Blues in any fashion OR if they get one point against the Blues AND the Coyotes lose to the Oilers in any fashion OR if the Coyotes lose to the Oilers in regulation.

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The latest

Sharks: The Sharks won their fourth game in the last five with a 3-0 blanking of the Coyotes at home on Sunday. James Reimer recorded his second shutout in four starts since arriving from Toronto before the trade deadline. San Jose is 2-0 on its season-long six-game homestand.

Blues: The Blues captured their seventh win in the last nine by beating the Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday, 3-0. St. Louis fired 50 shots on net in the victory, its most in a road game since 1996. Brian Elliott notched his second shutout with 19 saves.

Keep an eye on…

Sharks: Joel Ward. In his first season in San Jose, Ward reached the 20-goal plateau for the second time in his career with a deflection goal on Sunday. It was his third score in the last two games, after he had gone 11 straight without one. The 35-year-old has a combined nine shots on goal in the last two games while playing on a newly configured third line with center Chris Tierney.

Blues: Colton Parayko. The towering six-foot-six-inch Blues defenseman leads all NHL rookies with a plus-21 rating, also top on his team. The 22-year-old former third round pick in 2012 is second in the league among points by rookie defensemen with 29 (7g, 22a), too.

Probable lines

Sharks
Tomas Hertl – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Melker Karlsson – Logan Couture – Joonas Donskoi
Patrick Marleau – Chris Tierney – Joel Ward
Dainius Zubrus – Nick Spaling – Tommy Wingels

Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Roman Polak
Dylan DeMelo– Justin Braun

Martin Jones (confirmed starter)
James Reimer

Blues
Jaden Schwartz – Jori Lehtera – Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri – Paul Stastny – Troy Brouwer
Patrik Berglund – David Backes – Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall – Kyle Brodziak – Ryan Reaves

Joel Edmundson – Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester – Kevin Shattenkirk
Carl Gunnarsson – Colton Parayko

Brian Elliott (confirmed starter)
Jake Allen

Vitals

Sharks
Goals per game: 2.93 (3rd)
Goals-against per game: 2.53 (12th)
Power play: 22.6 percent (3rd)
Penalty kill: 79.8 percent (23rd)

Blues
Goals per game: 2.59 (19th)
Goals-against per game: 2.48 (9th)
Power play: 21.9 percent (6th)
Penalty kill: 84.6 percent (3rd)

Injuries/Scratches

Sharks: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (lower body), Matt Nieto (hand) and Matt Tennyson (head) are out.

Blues: Steve Ott (hamstring) and Alex Steen (upper body) are out.

Season series

The Sharks visited the Blues twice in February, winning 3-1 on Feb. 4 and 6-3 on Feb. 22.

Joe Thornton leads all scorers in the season series with five points (2g, 3a), while Martin Jones has been in net for both victories while posting a .927 save percentage.

Odds and ends

*Joe Thornton has at least one point in each of the Sharks’ last 28 wins.

*Three players bring five-game point streaks into tonight’s game: Tomas Hertl (2g, 5a), Joe Thornton (2g, 4a) and Jaden Schwartz (2g, 6a).

*The Blues are wrapping up a five-game, 11-day road trip. They are 2-2-0 so far.

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