The Sharks will try to answer coach Peter DeBoer's call for a more energetic and desperate game as they host the Columbus Blue Jackets Thursday evening.
San Jose is coming off a 4-3 shootout loss against the New York Rangers Tuesday evening. Winger Timo Meier and defenseman Brent Burns extended their respective points streaks, and Tomas Hertl tied the game up 3-3 with 1.8 seconds left in regulation. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk scored the lone marker in the shootout to give the Rangers the victory.
The Blue Jackets visit the Tank coming off a loss of their own. Columbus dropped a 5-3 decision to a struggling Reg Wings team, who jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead that the Jackets couldn't answer. Typically talkative coach John Tortorella was at a loss for words post-game after the frustrating loss.
Aaron Dell is expected to get the start Thursday evening for the Sharks. The 29-year-old put on a strong 38-save performance against the Carolina Hurricanes last week despite picking up the loss in the shootout. Sergei Bobrovsky is set to tend goal at the other end of the ice.
Thursday's tilt is the first of a two-game season series between San Jose and Columbus. The teams split their two-game season series last year with the visiting team winning both contests. San Jose is 36-17-0-4 in 57 total meetups with CBJ over the course of their history.
Sharks lines and defensive pairs
Timo Meier – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski
Tomas Hertl – Logan Couture – Kevin Labanc
Evander Kane – Antti Suomela – Joonas Donskoi
Marcus Sorensen – Barclay Goodrow – Melker Karlsson
Sports
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Justin Braun
Joakim Ryan – Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon – Erik Karlsson
Aaron Dell – confirmed starter
Martin Jones
Blue Jackets lines and defensive pairs
Artemi Panarin – Pierre-Luc Dubois – Cam Atkinson
Nick Foligno – Boone Jenner – Josh Anderson
Oliver Bjorstrand – Alexander Wennberg -Anthony Duclair
Lukas Sedlak – Riley Nash – Markus Hannikainen
Zach Werenski – Seth Jones
Ryan Murray – Markus Nutivaara
Scott Harrington – David Savard
Sergei Bobrovsky – confirmed starter
Joonas Korpisalo
