… This is the fourth and final meeting between these two teams this season. The Sharks lead the series 2-1 with wins Oct. 30 and Jan. 17. The Wings won the Dec. 18 meeting.

… The Sharks are 5-1-4 in February. They’re winners of their last four, including a 1-0 decision over Dallas on Monday.

… They hold a five-point lead over Detroit with 91 and maintain a pair of games in hand.

… San Jose will be without Marcel Goc (lower body) and Torrey Mitchell (leg).

… Evgeni Nabokov (who else?) will start.

… Projected San Jose lines:

Clowe-Thornton-Setoguchi
Michalek-Pavelski-Roenick
Cheechoo-Marleau-Grier
Shelley-Plihal-Lemieux

… That last line is sure to get a lot of attention at the Joe, thanks to a certain #32. Read George Malik’s thoughts on the Sharks’ resident rotting sack of excrement  here. Bill’s got some more here.

As for me, I’ll leave it at my previous description and add that Lemieux is only as big a story here as we allow him to be. As much as I’d like to see his world rocked by Kronwall or someone else, I’d rather he be a complete non-factor in any sense. He’s not worth any more ink/pixels than the lines that must appear in the boxscore and game stats. Any particular attention on the part of the Wings detracts from their mission. Knowing how much he loves hate from the stands, I’d even say don’t even bother booing him, were that not a right granted to all fans.  

… The Wings are 9-2-1 in February thus far. They’re coming off a 5-3 loss Saturday night in Minnesota, a game that followed a 5-2 win over Anaheim the night before.

… Brad Stuart (back, ribs) is slated to return against his former team tonight. He’ll likely join Nik Kronwall on the second pairing.

… To make room for Stuart in the lineup, Chris Chelios is a healthy scratch.

… He’ll be joined by Tomas Kopecky, who will take his turn on the fourth line rotation that last had Kris Draper on the sidelines.

… Tomas Holmstrom (sports hernia) and Brett Lebda remain out.

… Ty Conklin will start tonight.

… Projected lines:

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Hossa
Hossa-Filppula-Franzen
Hudler-Helm-Samuelsson
Maltby-Draper-Leino

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Stuart-Kronwall
Lilja-Meech

… This is a big game for the Wings as it’s their last chance to directly effect the Sharks’ record. They’ll be unable to catch the Sharks in any case unless they stumble down the stretch, but a win tonight ups the odds just a bit.

San Jose is firing on all cylinders at the moment, something the Wings can’t claim with their lackluster appearance Saturday. They’ll have to be at their best tonight and with the homecrowd offering extra motivation, I think it’s a safe bet that they will.