CANES LINES: WARM-UPS
12:35 p.m.
The Hurricanes will ice the same group of skaters from Friday night, but as head coach Bill Peters promised, the look is slightly adjusted, especially on the back-end.
Aho-Staal-Teravainen
McGinn-Rask-Williams
Skinner-Ryan-Lindholm
Nordstrom-Kruger-Stempniak
Slavin-Faulk
Hanifin-Pesce
Fleury-van Riemsdyk
Ward
Darling
The puck drops at PNC Arena in 30 minutes!
WARD TO START IN NET
11:20 a.m.
Cam Ward will get the nod in net this afternoon versus San Jose, head coach Bill Peters said. There won't be any other personnel changes to the lineup, but you might see some different forward lines or defensive pairings, according to the head coach.
"We're going to try to get our D more involved in the rush. It should be a group that's in the rush," Peters said. "They skate well and have the ability to make good outlet passes. There's no reason we can't transition clean and get our D in the rush. We need that in order to score."
The Hurricanes will be looking for some measure of revenge against a Sharks team claimed a 5-4 overtime win in early December. It was a crushing defeat for the Canes, who twice held three-goal leads.
"Specialty teams hurt us that night," Peters said. "The game was under control, 4-2 late. It should have ended that way. ... It didn't, but we've grown in those scenarios since then."
The Hurricanes canceled their scheduled practice on Saturday after getting out-skated by the Detroit Red Wings in the tail end of a back-to-back, the hope being that the time spent off the ice helps keep the legs fresh for today's afternoon puck drop.
"We need more pop. Fresh. Rest is a weapon. We didn't look fresh against Detroit," Peters said. "The schedule dictates some of the things we do, and we need to skate. When we don't skate, we're not a very good team."
CANES HOST SHARKS IN SUNDAY MATINEE
12:00 a.m.
The Carolina Hurricanes host the San Jose Sharks in a Sunday matinee, the fourth game in the team's season-long, eight-game homestand.
The Hurricanes are 2-1-0 thus far in this critical stretch at home. After a 2-1 win over Ottawa and a 2-0 shutout of Montreal, the Canes fell 4-1 to the Detroit Red Wings on Friday. On the second half of a back-to-back, the Hurricanes never really got going against a quick-footed Detroit team.
"They were hungrier than us, for sure. They were the better team. We were trying to claw our way back and get some momentum," Jordan Staal said after the game. "In the end, we didn't have enough."
Sebastian Aho scored the Canes' lone goal on the power play, while the team otherwise struggled to generate any offense, especially at even strength.
"They clamped things down and we didn't get many quality chances," Lee Stempniak said. "It's hard to win when you score one goal, no matter what. … They're a good team. They play a very structured game."
"They were quick tonight. They won a lot of foot races, a lot of loose puck battles that they got to first and made us defend," head coach Bill Peters said. "I think they established body position a lot all over the ice, so we were second to a lot of the battles."
Coming off All-Star Weekend, the Sharks embarked on a five-game road trip. Heading into the fourth game of the swing, the Sharks are currently 1-1-1, having most recently defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Friday.
The Hurricanes first met the Sharks in early December, a crushing 5-4 overtime defeat in which the Hurricanes twice held three-goal leads.
Sunday's match-up is a chance for the team to right the score from that game and also get back into the win column, as the Canes remain right in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
"It's a big game for us. They're all big. You can't let the wins or losses sit with you too long. You have to move on," Stempniak said. "I think we'll have a positive outlook come Sunday."
CANESPR NOTES: The Hurricanes are 7-2-0 in their last nine home games against the Sharks and 7-3-1 overall in their last 11 games against San Jose. … Marcus Kruger is 12-for-13 (92.3 percent) in faceoffs in his last two games. As a team, the Hurricanes rank first in the league in faceoff win percentage (53 percent).
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