SHARKS (39-23-8) at STARS (37-24-8)

TV: CSN-CA, Fox Sports-Southwest.

Last 10: San Jose 6-2-2; Dallas 6-2-2.

Season Series: This is the fifth of six meetings between the Pacific Division rivals. Dallas is 3-0-1 against the Sharks and won the most recent meeting, a 3-2 decision on March 5 at HP Pavilion.

Big Story: Antti Niemi was bombarded by some of his former teammates on Monday night and was pulled during the second period of a 6-3 loss at Chicago. He was replaced by Antero Niittymaki at 7:25 of the second after allowing four goals on 18 shots, and three goals on the last five he faced.

"I was trying to look at this like another game," said Niemi, who helped the Blackhawks win their first Stanley Cup since 1961 last June.

Team Scope:

Sharks: San Jose lost in regulation for just the fourth time in its last 25 games on Monday night, but this is hardly the time to leave a game without any points. The Sharks enter Tuesday's action with a three-point lead atop the Pacific Division; however, they're also just six points ahead of ninth-place Nashville.

"If I was going to sum up the game: they skated, we glided," San Jose coach Todd McLellan said after Monday's loss. "They were hard on the boards, we were soft. We were looking for a win the easy way, and there's 30 teams in the League right now that know that doesn't work."

Stars: Dallas is coming off a heartbreaking loss to Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. Jamie Langenbrunner erased a 2-1 deficit at 19:17 of the third period that had everyone inside the American Airlines Center believing the Stars would earn at least a point. But Michal Handzus scored 22 seconds later to leave Dallas empty-handed.

"It's tough to take," captain Brenden Morrow said. "You battle for 59 minutes and get back to even, and then they score a late one. It's tough. We're going to let it sink in here for the next 10 or 15 minutes and then push it aside to get ready for the next game."

Who's Hot: With a pair of assists Monday night, Sharks forward Patrick Marleau now has seven points in his last six games. … Stars forward Jamie Benn has a seven-game point streak. He has six goals during that span.

Injury Report: The Sharks are likely to be without Scott Nichol (upper body) and Kent Huskins (upper body). … Dallas is expecting to be without forward Adam Burish, who is nursing a lower-body injury.

Stat Pack: Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen has started 10 consecutive games and has made 56 appearances this season. Injuries limited Lehtonen to a total of 58 games over the previous two campaigns.

Puck Drop: "Trevor's really taken a step in a leadership role with the team. I think he's found that he's got more ownership of the group this year. He's gone from being the young defenseman that everybody is waiting for to now being a focal player on our club." -- Stars coach Marc Crawford on defenseman Trevor Daley