With eight goals in his last eight games across all competitions, 28-year-old forward Stindl has rekindled Gladbach's hopes of a European spot after a bad run until the winter break saw them hovering near the relegation zone.
"I am very effective at the moment," Stindl, a former German youth international, said after scoring a penalty in their 2-1 victory over Hamburg SV on Wednesday that sent them through to the German Cup semi-finals.
"I am just happy that it's going so well and I know I have my share of missed chances this season," added Stindl, who has netted seven times in the league.
"I always try to deliver and score goals that teammates set up for me. At the moment it is working and I am happy with that."
Stindl, who also grabbed a hat-trick in their Europa League win over Fiorentina last month to set up the clash with Schalke, will need to keep on scoring to make the season a success.
Gladbach, Champions League contenders at the start of the season, crashed out of the competition in the group stage and slipped down to 14th in the Bundesliga before the departure of coach Andre Schubert, who was replaced by Dieter Hecking.
They are now back up to 10th on 29 points, five off seventh spot that leads to the Europa League qualifying rounds.
Gladbach have also won seven of their last eight home matches against Schalke, who have had an equally erratic first half to the season amid higher expectations.
Neither team would have expected to be in the lower part of the table more than halfway through the season but their three matches against each other in the Bundesliga and Europe will largely determine if the season has been a success.
Schalke, 12th on 27 points, have managed just two wins in their last 10 league matches and on Wednesday suffered an ignominious German cup exit with a 3-0 loss at Bayern Munich in yet another weak performance.
Coach Markus Weinzierl knows time is running out if Schalke are to rescue anything from this campaign.
"We need to get up again quickly and analyse the (Bayern) game. We failed to do what we had set out to do," he said.
League leaders Bayern, five points clear of RB Leipzig, are away to Cologne on Saturday. Leipzig can cut that lead when they travel to FC Augsburg on Friday night.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Keith Weir)
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