It's doubtful the San Jose Sharks would mind playing another five straight games at home. The St. Louis Blues are probably glad to see California for the last time this season.

Saturday's game at the HP Pavilion will match the Sharks, who still haven't lost in regulation at home, against a Blues team that hasn't won on the West Coast this season.

With Thursday's 2-0 victory over Anaheim, San Jose moved its home record to 15-0-2, and the Sharks (23-3-2) will complete a season-high five-game homestand Saturday. San Jose has won 10 of its past 11 overall.

The Blues (12-13-3) wrap up a three-game West Coast swing after dropping the first two - 4-2 Wednesday to Anaheim and 6-2 Thursday to Los Angeles. St. Louis has gone 0-4-1 in California this season, including a 5-4 shootout loss Nov. 6 to the Sharks.

In that game, San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov suffered a lower-body injury and missed the next seven contests. Since returning, he has started seven straight games, going 6-0-1 with a 1.84 goals-against average.

That stretch includes his first shutout of the season Thursday and 41st of his career.

"That's like icing on the cake, to get the shutout on top of the 2-0 win," said Nabokov, who is 16-2-1 with a 2.40 GAA. "Everybody chipped in, and we had a good game."

Nabokov has won four straight over the Blues and six of the last eight meetings, allowing one goal or fewer in six of those games.

The No. 1 line of Patrick Marleau, Devin Setoguchi and Joe Thornton has helped turn the Sharks into one of the best offenses in the league, scoring 3.64 goals per game. Setoguchi scored his team-leading 14th in Thursday's win, and Marleau added his 13th. Thornton has a team-leading 32 points, one ahead of his linemates.

San Jose will face one of the league's worst defenses in St. Louis, which allows 3.18 goals per game, and the Blue won't have starting goaltender Manny Legace available.

Legace suffered a concussion when he took a knee to the head Wednesday against Anaheim and is expected to miss at least a week. He had won consecutive starts before getting injured.

Chris Mason took Legace's place and suffered the loss against he Ducks. In Thursday's game against the Kings, Mason was pulled after giving up four goals in the first two periods.

Ben Bishop didn't fare much better, yielding two goals on eight shots in his first appearance since Nov. 6 at San Jose.

"We played terrible hockey and let each other down," Blues center Keith Tkachuk said. "It was just a horrible game."

Mason is 0-5-1 with a 3.18 GAA in his career against the Sharks.

Brad Boyes, the Blues' leader with 28 points, had a four-game point streak snapped Thursday after recording three goals and five assists over that span. B.J. Crombeen's run of five goals in three games, including his first career hat trick Monday against Nashville, also ended.

Saturday's game will be the sixth in nine days for St. Louis, which has lost 13 of the last 15 meetings with San Jose.

Red Wings-Sharks Preview Associated Press
Nearly a month ago, the San Jose Sharks were enjoying a comfortable lead over the Detroit Red Wings atop the Western Conference. The defending Stanley Cup champions, however, have since closed the gap.

The surging Red Wings have an opportunity grab the lead in the West as they continue their six-game road trip on Saturday night against a Sharks team looking to bounce back from its first regulation loss at HP Pavilion in nearly 11 months.

San Jose (32-6-5) topped the NHL and boasted a nine-point advantage over Detroit (31-7-6) in the West on Dec. 18, when the Red Wings rolled to a 6-0 victory at Joe Louis Arena.

While the Sharks have won gone 7-2-2 since that defeat, the Red Wings have gained ground by going 10-1-2 in that span. Detroit is now within one point of San Jose for the conference lead, and both teams are chasing East-leading Boston, which has an NHL-best 70 points.

"This is a big test for us," Sharks coach - and former Red Wings assistant - Todd McLellan told his team's official Web site Friday. "We'll find out where we are at. Their team has improved since the beginning of the year. In my opinion, they are the best team in the NHL."

McLellan's squad matches up against a Detroit team that has collected at least one point in a season-high 10 consecutive games (8-0-2).

On Thursday night, the Red Wings notched their second straight win and improved to 2-0-1 on their current road swing with a 4-0 victory at Los Angeles. Fourth-line players Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper each contributed a goal and an assist.

"It's all about chemistry," Maltby said. "(We) have good players and we've got a good nucleus of guys who have been here for a few years."

Detroit won for the fourth time in five away games (4-0-1) to improve its conference-best road record to 15-4-4. That road success will certainly be beneficial against San Jose, which already defeated the Red Wings 4-2 at HP Pavilion on Oct. 30.

The Sharks had a 31-game point streak dating to a Feb. 14 loss to Edmonton snapped on Thursday with a 3-2 defeat to the Calgary Flames. A deflection off the stick of San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic led to the decisive goal with 3:57 to play as the Sharks fell to 20-1-2 at HP Pavilion this season.

"You let a road team hang around when it's tied in the third period, and a lot of times something like that is going to happen," said Ryane Clowe, who recorded his 19th goal to tie the single-season high of 34 points he set in 2006-07.

Evgeni Nabokov finished with 28 saves, slipping to 17-1-1 with a 1.99 goals-against average in 19 home starts. But he has struggled against the Red Wings, giving up all six goals on 28 shots in last month's loss and 2-7-1 with a 4.30 GAA in his last 11 matchups against them.

Detroit backup Ty Conklin made 24 saves in that contest, and is 2-1-1 with a 1.72 GAA in his last four games versus the Sharks. He's recorded all five of the Red Wings' five shutouts thus far, stopping 23 shots Thursday to improve to 8-1-1 with a 1.59 GAA in his last 10 games.

Sharks center Patrick Marleau had a three-game multipoint streak end with Thursday's loss, but has 15 goals and 21 assists in 43 lifetime games versus Detroit. Marleau has scored 14 of his team-high 23 goals at home.