Sharks vs. Hurricanes Preview: Looking to recover at home

The Sharks entered this three-game swing looking at three winnable games. I thought getting four or five points out of these contests was certainly within reach if not highly probably. Now, San Jose hosts the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:30 p.m. hoping to get two points out of three games against teams the Sharks really should be able to beat.

It doesn’t help that the last two losses have come late in the contest. Not late enough to get an overtime loss point, either. That part in particular stings. Martin Jones hasn’t played well in either game and despite the Sharks winning the shot attempt battle at even strength in both games, they struggled to find the back of the net.

Regardless of what happened the past two games, Aaron Dell really should start tonight. Jones has played a bunch of games already this year and frankly hasn’t played well enough in the last two to warrant going today on short rest. We’ll see what Pete DeBoer decides to do.

The San Jose Barracuda play today at 1:15 p.m. If Timo Meier is called up, it’ll be before then, I figure. I don’t expect to see him up with the Sharks until after the Barracuda’s game on Sunday in order to get him the maximum amount of games and to save as much cap space as possible.

In the Sharks only other meeting with the ‘Canes this year, San Jose played its worst game of a long road trip. It was only a 1-0 loss, thanks mostly to Dell’s strong performance in net, but boy did the Sharks stink it up in that one. If there’s one thing going the Sharks way tonight, it’s that they won’t want a repeat performance there.

Puck drop is slated for 7:30 p.m. PT on CSN-California.