Sharks vs Hurricanes: Preview
The Sharks play their third game in four nights today in Carolina
At the beginning of the Sharks' current road trip, we said they needed to get five points in the five game trip to consider it a success. After last night's shootout win against Florida, San Jose is only one point away from meeting that goal.
It may not come easy, as the Sharks are on the second half of a back-to-back and will almost certainly have backup goaltender Alex Stalock in net. However, Carolina also played last night, losing 4-2 to the Ottawa Senators. Eddie Lack started for the Hurricanes in that game, so the Sharks will be facing slightly-less-bad Cam Ward tonight.
Tale Of The Tape
 | @ |  |
| 31-20-5 | Record | 26-22-10 |
| 3rd in Pacific | Rank | 6th in Metropolitan |
| 52.9% | Score-Adj. Fenwick | 52.4% |
| 99.7 | PDO | 98.4 |
| 22.2 | PP% | 17.3 |
| 80.8 | PK% | 82.1 |
4:00 PM PDT - PNC Arena - Raleigh, North Carolina
TV: CSN-CA Radio: KFOX
Know Your Enemy: Canes Country
Last Meeting
The last time these two teams met the Sharks came out on top with a big 5-2 win. The five goals came from Joel Ward, who had a hat trick, Joe Pavelski, and Tommy Wingels. Martin Jones stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced, while the Hurricanes' goaltender Eddie Lack didn't fare so well, stopping only 9 of 13 shots before he was pulled from the game and replaced by Cam Ward.
Storylines
- Tommy Wingels was injured in last night's game and Peter DeBoer has said that he will probably be out for "a little while," so, I guess it could be worse? We'll be keeping an eye on this./
Wingels "probably out for a little while" DeBoer says postgame #SJSharks
— Kevin Kurz (@KKurzCSN) February 19, 2016
- The Ducks and Kings have the night off tonight, which makes this San Jose's game in hand. If the Sharks win they'll be in sole position of second in the Pacific, and only one point behind Los Angeles for first place.
- We don't have news on a starter for tonight's game as of writing this post, but friend of the blog Kevin Kurz seems to think Martin Jones may get the start in tonight's game too. I think this is a bad idea - an exhausted, overworked goaltender going into the playoffs (when you need him most) isn't what the Sharks need. After success in their last two games giving Stalock the start tonight can't hurt too much. /