Wild gameday

3 P.M. at San Jose • SAP Center • FSN, 100-3 FM

Preview: The Wild completes its four-game road trip with a matinee in San Jose. The Wild is 1-2 on the trip and broke a five-game losing streak Thursday in Los Angeles. The Wild ended a five-game winless streak in San Jose last month with 2-0 win. It was the Wild's second win in 12 visits to San Jose since March 5, 2009, and only its third victory in 17 visits since Oct. 21, 2006. After a slow start to this season, the Sharks have won six of the past seven. They have points in seven straight, their longest such streak since March 2014.

Players to watch: Coming off his shutout at Los Angeles, G Darcy Kuemper is expected to start. He made 25 saves in last month's shutout in San Jose. LW Thomas Vanek has no shots in four consecutive games and three goals in the past 18 games. LW Zach Parise leads the Wild with 17 goals. Sharks G Martin Jones has won his past five starts. C Joe Thornton has points in seven straight games (nine) and at least one point in 15 of his past 16 games (20). He has 36 points in 39 games against the Wild. C Joe Pavelski has 25 points in 30 games against the Wild. He is tied for 10th in the NHL with 44 points.

Numbers: The Sharks' Burns, who leads NHL defensemen with 18 goals, ranks tied for sixth on the Wild's all-time scoring list with 183 points in 453 games. … The Wild ended an 0-for-30 power-play drought on the road Thursday night. … The Wild leads the NHL with seven shutouts, and since Dec. 1, its 1.88 goals-against average is the best in the NHL.

Injuries: Wild LW/RW Ryan Carter (hand) is out. The Sharks are healthy.

Michael Russo