Morning Skate: Sharks visit defending champs in Chicago

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Programming note 
Sharks-Blackhawks coverage starts today at 3:30 p.m. with Sharks Pregame Live on CSN California

Where they stand
Sharks: 16-15-1, 33 points, 2nd Pacific Division
Blackhawks: 19-11-4, 42 points, 3rd Central Division

The latest

Sharks: After opening the scoring on a Joe Thornton marker, the Sharks surrendered four straight goals in a 4-2 defeat in Ottawa on Friday. They fell to 2-1 on a five-game road trip that concludes in Los Angeles on Tuesday. San Jose is 2-6-1 in its last nine games.

Blackhawks: Last night in Buffalo, the Blackhawks claimed a 3-2 win over the Sabres in a shootout. Dennis Rasmussen and Patrick Kane scored in regulation, with Kane getting the lone goal in the skills competition. The Blackhawks are 6-2-0 in their last eight games.

Keep an eye on…

Sharks: Joe Pavelski. The Sharks captain has six points on the first three games of the road trip, including two goals. San Jose’s scoring leader with 32 points, Pavelski has 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points in 30 career games against Chicago.

San Jose Sharks

Find the latest San Jose Sharks news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.

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Blackhawks: Artemi Panarin. The NHL’s rookie scoring leader with 31 points, the 24-year-old had two assists against the Sharks at SAP Center on Nov. 25. The Russian native has six multiple-point games this season, including four three-points efforts.

Probable lines

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

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Paul Martin – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon - Dylan DeMelo

Martin Jones
Alex Stalock

Blackhawks
Teuvo Teravainen – Jonathan Toews – Marian Hossa
Artemi Panarin – Artem Anisimov – Patrick Kane
Bryan Bickell – Dennis Rasmussen – Andrew Shaw
Andrew Desjardins – Phillip Danault – Ryan Garbutt

Duncan Keith – Trevor van Riemsdyk
Niklas Hjalmarsson – Brent Seabrook
Rob Scuderi – Michal Rozsival

Corey Crawford
Scott Darling

Vitals

Sharks
Goals per game: 2.63 (12th)
Goals-against per game: 2.72 (22nd)
Power play: 19.4 percent (12th)
Penalty kill: 83.0 percent (8th)

Blackhawks
Goals per game: 2.68 (11th)
Goals-against per game: 2.35 (6th)
Power play: 22.2 percent (4th)
Penalty kill: 82.8 percent (9th)

Injuries/Scratches

Sharks: Logan Couture (arterial bleeding in right thigh) is out.

Blackhawks: Marcus Kruger (wrist) is out.

Season series

Chicago won the first of the three-game season series on Nov. 25 in San Jose, 5-2.

The Sharks return to United Center on Feb. 9 to close out a four-game road trip coming out of the All-Star break.

Odds and ends

*Brent Burns has five points in the last two games (2g, 3a), while Joe Thornton has one point in each of the last three games (1g, 2a).

*Barclay Goodrow was reassigned to the Barracuda on Sunday morning.

*Chicago is 9-1-2 against the Pacific Division, while the Sharks are 1-4-0 against the Central.

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