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Feb 8, 2010 - 5:36 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

San Jose (38-11-9) at Toronto (19-29-11), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Most teams may find another six-game road trip daunting. Owners of the best road record in the NHL, the San Jose Sharks are not most teams.

The Western Conference-leading Sharks look for a ninth road victory in a row Monday night when they visit the last-place Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time in more than four years.

San Jose (38-11-9) has won 19 of 24 (19-3-2), including eight straight on the road since falling 2-1 at Phoenix on Dec. 12.

That surge has improved the Sharks to a league-best 19-6-2 on visiting ice while leading the West with 85 points, four more than Central Division-leading Chicago. They trail Washington by three points in the race for the Presidents' Trophy, which San Jose won for the first time last season before being eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs by eighth-seeded Anaheim.

Playing on the road actually might help the Sharks close the gap with the Capitals. They continued their success away from San Jose with a 4-3 win at Nashville on Saturday, after beating St. Louis 4-2 two nights prior to open this season high-tying six-game trip.

San Jose went 4-2-0 during a trip of the same length Oct. 15-25, and will take to the road for yet another six games March 14-23 as it plays 14 of its remaining 24 regular-season contests away from home.

The Sharks won nine straight away contests Feb. 21-March 18, 2008, one shy of the franchise record set earlier that season.

Left wing Dany Heatley and center Patrick Marleau have been big reasons for the current road winning streak, totaling 12 goals and nine assists, including two goals by Heatley and two assists from Marleau on Saturday.

Marleau and Joe Thornton both assisted on Heatley's game-winning power-play tally with 8:03 to play against the Predators.

"Overall, it was kind of a sloppy game by both sides," said Heatley, whose 32 goals are second on the team to Marleau's 38. "Fortunately we took advantage of a couple of power plays."

Experienced defenseman Niclas Wallin is expected to make his debut with the Sharks, who acquired him and a fifth-round pick in June's draft in a trade with Carolina on Sunday in exchange for a second-round selection.

Wallin has played 69 playoff games and helped Carolina reach the Stanley Cup finals twice, winning it in 2006.

He now goes from the Hurricanes - tied with Toronto (19-29-11) at the bottom of the East - to a bona fide Stanley Cup contender.

"This is like winning the lottery," Wallin said. "You get to play on a team that obviously has a chance to go all the way. I've been there and there's nothing like it. This team has every tool to do it."

San Jose has won three in a row against the Maple Leafs, including a 5-2 home win last season. The Sharks have not visited Toronto since a 5-4 win Dec. 3, 2005.

The Maple Leafs are getting excellent results from their own recent acquisition, Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Giguere, acquired from Anaheim on Jan. 31, is the first goaltender in Toronto history to post shutouts in his first two games. His second shutout came Saturday, when he made 30 saves in a 5-0 win over Ottawa to snap the Senators' franchise-record 11-game winning streak.

He'll now try to become the first goalie since Steve Mason of Columbus (Dec. 27-31, 2008) to record three shutouts in a row.

The victory over Ottawa also came on the night the team learned that Brandon Burke, son of general manager Brian Burke, was killed in a two-car collision while driving through an Indiana snowstorm.

"Obviously, I think our goal here is to make sure that Burkie and his family don't have to worry about this," Giguere said. "They have enough on their plate right now."