For the first time since missing three games with a leg injury in early 2010, Joe Thornton will not be playing in a San Jose Sharks game tonight due to injury (he missed two games due to a suspension during the 2010-11 season). After leaving the Sharks’ New Years’ Eve victory over Anaheim with what appeared to be a first period injury, San Jose’s top forward appeared at the team’s morning skate on Friday but wasn’t present today and will not be in the lineup when the Sharks host the Blues for the second time in two weeks.

Tale Of The Tape

	@
22-13-3, 47 points	Record	20-13-5, 45 points
3rd in Central	Rank	4th in Pacific
52.5%	Score-Adj. Fenwick	51.3%
100.5	PDO	99.2
23.7	PP%	22.9
79.2	PK%	83.9

7:30PM PST | SAP Center | San Jose, California
TV: CSNCA-HD | Radio: SJSharks.com, 98.5 KFOX
Know Your Enemy: St. Louis Game Time

Projected Sharks Lineup

Tomas Hertl – Joe Pavelski – Matt Nieto
Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Tommy Wingels
Barclay Goodrow – James Sheppard – Melker Karlsson
Tye McGinn – Andrew Desjardins – Michael Haley

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon – Brent Burns
Scott Hannan – Matt Tennyson

Antti Niemi
Alex Stalock

Projected Blues Lineup

Alexander Steen – David Backes – T.J. Oshie
Jori Lehtera – Paul Stastny – Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz – Patrik Berglund – Dmitrij Jaskin
Steve Ott – Maxim Lapierre – Ryan Reaves

Jay Bouwmeester – Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson – Kevin Shattenkirk
Barret Jackman – Ian Cole

Brian Elliott
Martin Brodeur

Last Meeting

Exactly two weeks ago the Sharks hosted the Blues at the Tank. Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored with seconds on the clock to tie the game and send it to overtime where Brent Burns blasted a one-timer past Jake Allen on the power play to give San Jose the win.

Storylines

• As he did for much of the second and third periods against Anaheim, Matt Nieto will take Thornton’s spot on the top line with Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl.
• Micheal Haley draws back into the lineup on the fourth line after being a healthy scratch for the win over the Ducks.
• Both teams’ prior games were against Anaheim as the Blues lost a 4-3 decision in Orange County last night.