Things are going so well for the San Jose Sharks that even with the NHL's top goaltender injured, they're able to replace him with one who has shutouts in his only two starts this season.

The streaking Sharks - 8-0-0 at home - will look for their seventh straight victory overall on Saturday night when they open their season series with the Dallas Stars, the team that eliminated them from last season's playoffs.

San Jose (12-2-0) kept its winning streak and unblemished home mark alive on Thursday. Ryane Clowe's second goal of the game tied it with less than two minutes left in regulation, and he scored in the shootout to help clinch a 5-4 win over St. Louis.

The Sharks outshot the Blues 43-29, putting at least 40 shots on goal for the seventh time this season. San Jose leads the league in that category (37.6).

"They are such a fast team that you have to be on your toes the whole game," Blues forward David Backes said. "Against the (Joe) Thornton unit, they are such tough guys, and they can turn it up so quick. They were shooting pucks from everywhere."

The bad news for San Jose involved Evgeni Nabokov, who sustained an unspecified lower-body injury on the final shot of the shootout.

The 2007-08 Vezina trophy finalist is 10-2-0 with a 2.72 goals-against average, and hasn't been ruled out for this game, but backup Brian Boucher likely will start.

The Sharks aren't likely to be troubled by that possibility. Boucher has allowed two total goals in five starts since signing with San Jose in February, going 5-0-0 with a 0.40 GAA and three shutouts as a starter.

The journeyman has turned aside all 43 shots he's faced this season in victories over Los Angeles and Tampa Bay.

"It's been going well so far, but it's only been two games," Boucher told his team's official Web site.

Not much had been going well for Dallas' goalies this season, but despite coming in with a 4.34 GAA and allowing 11 goals in his previous two starts, Marty Turco made 28 saves in a 5-2 win at Anaheim on Friday.

It was also only the second time Turco held an opponent to two or fewer goals this season - something he's done 19 times in 32 career starts against the Sharks. He's 20-7-4 with a tie and a 2.21 career GAA in the regular season against San Jose.

Turco gave up just 11 goals in six games as Dallas beat the Sharks 4-2 in the Western Conference semifinals last season before falling to eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit.

But the Stars have gotten off to a slow start in 2008-09 thanks in part to their porous defense. Their 52 goals allowed are the most in the West.

They hope Friday's victory can send them on the right track, but Dallas hasn't yet won back-to-back games this season.

"It's a step in the right direction, but we still have a lot of work to do," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "There were some positives we can grab on to but there are still lot of parts of our game we have to clean up."

Mark Parrish, playing his first game with the Stars (5-6-2) after signing with the team this week, scored three goals for his first hat trick since December 2006.

"I was hoping to get off to a good start, but I certainly wasn't expecting that," said Parrish, who has two goals in 11 games at the Shark Tank.

Few teams have gotten past the San Jose Sharks this season. It's been more than three years since the Chicago Blackhawks have done it.

The league-leading Sharks look to continue their impressive start Sunday night and beat the Blackhawks for the 12th consecutive time.

San Jose (14-3-1) bounced back from its first consecutive losses of the season and improved its NHL-best record Thursday with a 6-1 home rout of Calgary. Joe Pavelski and Milan Michalek each scored twice for the Sharks, who held a 46-24 advantage in shots on goal.

"We're trying to win (simply) to win, whether the score's 4-1 or 1-1 going into the third," Pavelski said. "We want to get that fifth one and that sixth one and that seventh one."

San Jose scored a season-high four power-play goals in nine opportunities versus the Flames, improving to 7-for-21 with the man advantage in its last three games.

Wins have been virtually automatic for the Sharks against Chicago (7-3-5) in recent years. Since losing 6-3 at the United Center on Oct. 7, 2005, San Jose has won 11 straight in the series - outscoring the Blackhawks 38-19 in that span - with five of those victories coming on the road.

Center Patrick Marleau has five goals and six assists in those 11 victories. He has 13 goals and 16 assists in 40 career games versus the Blackhawks.

Chicago has yet to lose in regulation at home this season, but fell to 2-0-2 on its five-game homestand after a 4-3 overtime loss to St. Louis on Friday night. Dave Bolland scored two goals and assisted on another for the Blackhawks, but his hooking penalty in overtime allowed the Blues' Andy McDonald to score the game-winner on the power play.

"We've got to let this one really sink in and get ticked off about it," captain Jonathan Toews told the Blackhawks' official Web site. "We have to come back and do better on Sunday."

After this contest, Chicago embarks on a six-game road trip, which will last the rest of November while the circus takes over the United Center. The trip includes a visit to San Jose on Nov. 26.

The Sharks will likely start Brian Boucher, who played 15 games for Chicago in 2006-07, in net for the injured Evgeni Nabokov (leg). Boucher is 4-2-0 with two ties and a 1.84 goals-against average in eight career games against the Blackhawks.

Nikolai Khabibulin has started the last two games for Chicago, meaning offseason acquisition Cristobal Huet may be between the pipes for this matchup. Huet has won three of his last four starts overall, but is 0-2-0 with a tie and a 3.65 GAA in four career games versus the Sharks.