San Jose @ Carolina preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 16, 2019 ) Carolina 2, San Jose 5

The Carolina Hurricanes pushed one of the Eastern Conference's top teams to the limit before being shut out for the second time in three games. The Hurricanes will try their luck against some of the West's best with the start of seven in a row against that conference, beginning with Thursday's home game against the San Jose Sharks.

Carolina has answered a sizzling 6-1-0 stretch with losses in three of its last four, including a 2-0 setback in Boston in a rematch of last spring's Eastern Conference Finals. "These ones sting. These are the ones that are hard to come back from," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We're going to have to pick the pieces up (Thursday). No one feels sorry for you. You have to get right back at it." San Jose will take a similar mantra into the opener of its four-game road trip after following up a scintillating 11-2-0 run with a 5-2 setback against Washington on Tuesday. Evander Kane scored in the third period of that contest before receiving a major penalty and game misconduct for elbowing defenseman Radko Gudas, an action that resulted in a $5,000 fine by the NHL on Wednesday.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBCS California (San Jose), FS Carolinas

ABOUT THE SHARKS (15-13-1): Martin Jones enjoyed a 10-1-0 run in an 11-start stretch and even received NHL Third Star of the Week honors on Monday before yielding five goals on 23 shots over two periods the following night. "We left him hanging out to dry like we did multiple times at the start of the year," captain Logan Couture said of Jones. "We have to get back to defending a little bit harder." Jones made a season high-tying 36 saves in San Jose's 5-2 victory over Carolina on Oct. 16, a game best remembered for Kane becoming the first Sharks player to score three goals in the opening period of a contest.

ABOUT THE HURRICANES (16-11-1): Andrei Svechnikov was not at Wednesday's practice due to a maintenance day, although Brind'Amour told reporters that the 19-year-old Russian is expected to play against San Jose. "He's just a little banged up. He plays hard," Brind'Amour said of Svechnikov, who has recorded 14 of his team-best 29 points in the last dozen games. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who trails Svechnikov by one point for the club lead, has collected 12 (four goals, eight assists) over his last 13 contests.

OVERTIME

1. San Jose C Tomas Hertl, who had a goal and two assists in the first encounter with Carolina, is expected to play on Thursday after exiting the contentious Washington game for precautionary reasons.

2. Hurricanes LW Teuvo Teravainen, who had one of his club-best 19 assists against the Sharks, has been held off the scoresheet in four consecutive contests.

3. The Sharks recalled Lean Bergmann from AHL's San Jose on Wednesday and placed fellow F Antti Suomela on injured reserve.

PREDICTION: Hurricanes 3, Sharks 2