Morning Skate: Sharks seeking eighth straight on the road

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Programming note: Sharks-Ducks coverage starts tonight at 6:30 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California.

Where they stand
Sharks: 14-10-0, 28 points, 2nd Pacific Division
Ducks: 9-12-5, 23 points, 5th Pacific Division

The latest

Sharks: The Sharks have won seven of their last nine, but dropped two of three on a recent homestand including a 5-1 loss to Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The Sharks, 10-3 on the road this season including seven straight wins, return to SAP Center on Saturday to host the defending Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Ducks: Anaheim dropped a 2-1 decision to the Lightning on Wednesday, its third loss in the last four games (1-2-1). Tonight is the fourth game of a six-game homestand for the Ducks at Honda Center, where they are 6-4-4.

Keep an eye on…

Sharks: Patrick Marleau. Since moving to center, the Sharks’ all-time leading scorer has 10 points over the last nine games (6g, 4a), including a four-game goal streak. He’s second on the club with 10 goals and fourth in scoring with 19 points.

San Jose Sharks

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Ducks: Sami Vatanen. The 24-year-old posted 11 points in the month of November, tied for fourth in the league among defensemen. He has five points (1g, 4a) in his last five games, but just one assist in 10 career games against the Sharks.

Probable lines

Sharks
Melker Karlsson – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Joonas Donskoi – Patrick Marleau – Joel Ward
Matt Nieto – Tomas Hertl – Tommy Wingels
Micheal Haley – Dainius Zubrus – Mike Brown

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Matt Tennyson

Martin Jones (confirmed starter)
Alex Stalock

Ducks
Rickard Rakell – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry
Nick Ritchie – Ryan Kesler – Jakob Silfverberg
Carl Hagelin – Shawn Horcoff – Andrew Cogliano
Mike Santorelli – Nate Thompson – Chris Stewart

Cam Fowler – Kevin Bieksa
Hampus Lindholm – Josh Manson
Sami Vatanen – Clayton Stoner

John Gibson (confirmed starter)
Anton Khudobin

Vitals

Sharks
Goals per game: 2.75 (10th)
Goals-against per game: 2.63 (13th)
Power play: 17.1 percent (24th)
Penalty kill: 80.0 percent (16th)

Ducks
Goals per game: 1.96 (29th)
Goals-against per game: 2.54 (18th)
Power play: 18.7 percent (17th)
Penalty kill: 87.0 percent (1st)

Injuries/Scratches

Sharks: Logan Couture (fractured right fibula) and Ben Smith (concussion) are out.

Ducks: Frederik Andersen (flu) is questionable. Simon Despres (upper body) and Jiri Sekac (lower body) are out.

Season series

The Sharks and Ducks have split the first two meetings, both at SAP Center. San Jose skated to a 2-0 win on Oct. 10 in its home opener thanks to a pair of goals by Patrick Marleau, but Anaheim responded with a 1-0 victory on Nov. 7 behind 31 saves from Anton Khudobin.

The four-game season series concludes on Feb. 2 at Honda Center.

Odds and ends

*The Sharks recalled Micheal Haley and Dylan DeMelo from the Barracuda. Mirco Mueller was reassigned on Thursday.

*Sharks goalie Martin Jones is 9-1-0 on the road with a 1.67 goals-against average and .943 save percentage.

*Patrick Marleau and Joel Ward each have five-game point streaks, while Joe Pavelski has a four-game streak.

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