After starting the bulk of the early season on the road, the San Jose Sharks will finally play their second home game of the season. They start a two-game stint at the Tank hosting the Buffalo Sabres Thursday evening.
San Jose was without Tomas Hertl at Morning Skate Thursday morning. However, coach Peter DeBoer told the media the 24-year-old winger will be ready to play Thursday night against the Sabres. Dylan Gambrell filed into Hertl's spot on Logan Couture's wing during the session.
This is the first contest of a two-game season series between San Jose and Buffalo. The last time they met, the Sharks defeated the Sabres 3-2 in Buffalo. The Sabres are 7-7-5 on the road against the Sharks all time.
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The Sabres are at the start of a swing through the west coast, coming off a rough 4-1 loss to the Las Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday evening.
Sharks projected lines and pairs
Evander Kane -- Joe Pavelski -- Kevin Labanc
Tomas Hertl-- Logan Couture -- TImo Meier
Joonas Donskoi -- Antti Suomela -- Marcus Sorensen
Barclay Goodrow -- Rourke Chartier -- Melker Karlsson
Marc-Edouard Vlasic --Erik Karlsson
Joakim Ryan -- Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon -- Justin Braun
San Jose Sharks
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Martin Jones -- projected starter
Aaron Dell
Sabres projected lines and pairs
Conor Sheary -- Jack Eichel -- Sam Reinhart
Jeff Skinner -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Kyle Okposo
Remi Eli -- Vladimir Sobotka --Tage Thompson
Zemgus Girgensons --Evan Rodrigues --Jason Pominville
Marco Scandella --Rasmus Ristolainen
Jake McCabe -- Rasmus Dahlin
Zach Bogosian -- Nathan Beaulieu
Carter Hutton -- projected starter
Linus Ullmark