Kings at Sharks preview

KINGS (15-20-4) at SHARKS (16-20-2)
10 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, NBCSCA, FS-W, NHL.TV

The defenseman, who missed the past eight games because of a knee injury, was activated off injured reserve on Friday. He has four points (one goal, three assists) in 16 games this season, and the Sharks are 11-4-1 with him in the lineup.
Aaron Dell will start for San Jose, which has lost three straight and is 1-8-1 in its past 10 games after going 11-2-0 in its previous 13.
Jack Campbell will start for Los Angeles, which has lost two straight and is 0-2-1 in its past three games.

Players to watch

Kings defenseman Drew Doughty has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in his past 10 games.
Sharks left wing Tomas Hertl has four goals and three assists in a six-game point streak.

They said it

"A lot of players have looked forward to that break to spend some time with their families and it goes by pretty fast. But we're professionals, we put the work boots on, get right back at it and that's what we expect from our group." -- Kings coach Todd McLellan following the Christmas break
"The team that starts on time is going to have the bigger advantage. We had a good talk about treating this as Game 1 of a new season. … we know we've got to put together some runs here and it's important that starts tonight." -- Sharks Bob Boughner

Kings projected lineup

Alex Iafallo -- Anze Kopitar -- Tyler Toffoli
Adrian Kempe -- Blake Lizotte -- Austin Wagner
Kyle Clifford -- Jeff Carter -- Matt Luff
Nikolai Prokhorkin -- Michael Amadio --
Martin Frk
Joakim Ryan -- Drew Doughty
Ben Hutton -- Matt Roy
Kale Clague -- Sean Walker
Jack Campbell
Jonathan Quick
Scratched: Kurtis MacDermid
Injured:Derek Forbort (back), Alec Martinez (wrist), Trevor Lewis (upper body), Gabriel Vilardi (back), Dustin Brown (illness)

Sharks projected lineup

Evander Kane -- Logan Couture -- Barclay Goodrow
Timo Meier -- Tomas Hertl -- Kevin Labanc
Marcus Sorensen -- Joe Thornton -- Patrick Marleau
Melker Karlsson --
Joel Kellman
-- Stefan Noesen
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Erik Karlsson
Radim Simek -- Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon -- Mario Ferraro
Aaron Dell
Martin Jones
Scratched:Antti Suomela, Tim Heed
Injured:Dalton Prout (upper body)

Status report

Lewis was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 21. ... Brown did not travel with the team. … Tofolli replaces Brown on the first line. ... Ferraro is expected to return to the lineup after missing the past three games. … Hertl moves back to center after playing the past five games at left wing. … The Sharks assigned defenseman Jacob Middleton and forward Noah Gregor to San Jose of the American Hockey League.

Stat pack

Thornton needs two assists to tie Adam Oates (1,079) for seventh place on the NHL all-time list. … Burns has a three-game point streak (one goal, three assists).