Sharks at Flyers preview

SHARKS (12-8-2) at FLYERS (8-9-7)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSP, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

The Flyers are 0-3-5 in their past eight games after losing 5-4 in overtime at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday. It's their longest losing streak since they lost 10 in a row (0-8-2) from Feb. 6-23, 2008.
San Jose will start backup goaltender Aaron Dell in place of Martin Jones, who is day-to-day because of an undisclosed injury sustained during a 4-0 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. Forward Melker Karlsson will return after missing four games with an upper-body injury.

Players to watch

Sharks forward Joe Pavelski is one goal from becoming the 18th United States-born NHL player with 300.
Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds had a hat trick against the Sharks in the season opener but has four goals in 23 games since.

They said it

"You have the ability to move him up and down the lineup, he's so versatile. He's missed, and we particularly missed him on the penalty kill. We gave up a couple power-play goals, and I think a lot of that can be a direct result of him being out of the lineup." -- Sharks coach Peter DeBoer on the return of forward Melker Karlsson
"It's hard because we're playing really good hockey games. We're putting ourselves in a chance to win hockey games and maybe we just let our guard down for a couple minutes and teams are just taking advantage of those couple of minutes that we're sitting back." -- Flyers forward Travis Konecny

Sharks projected lineup

Timo Meier -- Joe Thornton -- Joe Pavelski
Joonas Donskoi -- Logan Couture -- Tomas Hertl
Jannik Hansen -- Chris Tierney -- Mikkel Boedker
Melker Karlsson -- Danny O'Regan -- Joel Ward
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Justin Braun
Brenden Dillon -- Brent Burns
Tim Heed -- Dylan DeMelo
Aaron Dell
Antoine Bibeau
Scratched:Ryan Carpenter, Joakim Ryan, Kevin Labanc
Injured:Martin Jones (undisclosed), Paul Martin (ankle), Barclay Goodrow (upper body)

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek
Danick Martel -- Nolan Patrick -- Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl -- Valtteri Filppula -- Travis Konecny
Jori Lehtera -- Scott Laughton -- Dale Weise
Ivan Provorov -- Andrew MacDonald
Shayne Gostisbehere -- Robert Hagg
Travis Sanheim -- Brandon Manning
Michal Neuvirth
Brian Elliott
Scratched:Jordan Weal, Taylor Leier
Injured:None
Suspended:Radko Gudas

Status report

Jones is traveling with the Sharks, though he didn't skate Tuesday. DeBoer said there's a chance he could play at some point during the four-game road trip that starts Tuesday and continues with back-to-back games at the Florida Panthers on Friday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Bibeau was recalled from San Jose of the American Hockey League on Monday. Martin, who last played Oct. 7, took part in the morning skate but DeBoer didn't know when he would play. … The Flyers' only lineup change from Monday will be in goal, with Neuvirth starting for the first time since he allowed four goals on 22 shots and was removed in the second period of a 5-2 loss against the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 21.

Stat pack

Couture has seven points (five goals, two assists) in his past eight games. … Giroux has six points (one goal, five assists) during a four-game point streak.