NHL Game Preview - Detroit at San Jose

Sat Nov 16, 2019 10:30 PM EST

The good news for the San Jose Sharks is that Tomas Hertl's latest knee issue is "minor" according to coach Pete DeBoer. The bad news is that Hertl likely will miss Saturday's home game against the Detroit Red Wings as the Sharks look to build on their five-game winning streak.

"We'll see. For now, it's just day-to-day," Hertl told the San Jose Mercury News. "Nothing serious and hopefully (I'll) be OK for game."

Hertl's 21 points lead the Sharks, and he is second on the club with 10 goals. He was injured late in Thursday's 5-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks, after he scored a pair of goals. Hertl has scored in five straight games, in which he's collected six goals and nine points.

The Sharks have every reason to be cautious with Hertl's right knee. In 2013, he suffered a serious injury in an open-ice collision with Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown. He had a pair of injuries in 2016, with the second one sidelining him for 33 games.

"Before it was always way worse, but sometimes even the small things you can make worse," Hertl said. "But this time, hopefully, (it's) just a little tweak or something and it will be alright."

The Sharks, who are below .500 despite their winning streak, and certainly don't want to be without Hertl for long.

"We're still in a hole here so we've got to make sure that we continue to build our game,"goalie Martin Jones said.

The Red Wings arrive following a 3-2 overtime loss Thursday night in Los Angeles. Detroit saw a 2-1 lead disappear in the final two minutes of regulation, when the Kings had pulled their the goalie for an extra attacker, before falling in OT. As disappointing as it was to lose, the Red Wings -- currently on a 3-0-1 run -- are feeling good about their game.

"We played really good,"" goalie Jonathan Bernier said. "You know, it comes down to finding a way at the end there, the 6-on-5, to eliminate that rebound or try to block it, or somehow you got to find a way. But I thought overall it was pretty good. We picked up our game, and I thought the second half was really good."

While the Wings have some hot players -- notably the top line of Tyler Bertuzzi, Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha -- their supporting cast has not delivered as needed. It appears Detroit will receive a boost with Luke Glendening expected to return to the lineup when they face the Sharks.

"We need more out of our third and fourth lines right now," coach Jeff Blashill told the Detroit Free-Press. "I'm hoping to have Glennie back on Saturday and if we do have Glennie back, that gives us a real good player to add into our lineup. But we need more out of those lines. (Frans) Nielsen's line has had some chances lately, but they have to start going in. We need some more production throughout our lineup."

--Field Level Media