Capitals at Sharks
Jannik Hansen finally is set to make his debut with the San Jose Sharks, nine full days after being acquired at the trade deadline. With proper clearance from the U.S. Immigration Service now complete, the 30-year-old Dane expects to be in the lineup on Thursday as the Sharks open a six-game homestand by vying for a season sweep of the NHL-best Washington Capitals.
"I want to come in here and help this team any way I can. Whatever that is, that's obviously up to the coaches," Hansen told CSN Bay Area prior to skating on San Jose's top line with captain Joe Pavelski and veteran Joe Thornton in Wednesday's practice. "This is a very good team that (is) in a position to do something. ... Any way I can help them out, that's fine with me." While Pacific Division-leading San Jose is 5-1-1 in its last seven contests, Washington begins a three-game trek of California on the heels of seeing its franchise-best 15-game home winning streak end with a 4-2 setback to Dallas on Monday. Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby, who was pulled after yielding three goals on 11 shots against the Stars, made 20 saves to suffer his third loss in five career outings versus the Sharks in a 3-0 setback on Nov. 8.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), CSN California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (44-14-7): Nicklas Backstrom (team-leading 46 assists, 67 points) recorded his team-leading 17th multi-point performance of the season and 193rd career with a goal and an assist versus Dallas on Monday. The 29-year-old Swede has goals in three of his last four games and 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in his past 16. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who has adjusted to his new team with an assist in back-to-back contests, set up a pair of tallies to help St. Louis skate to a 4-0 triumph over San Jose on Jan. 14.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (39-19-7): Joe Pavelski has experienced both ends of the extreme over his last 15 games, recording seven goals and 15 points in that stretch while missing the scoresheet entirely in seven of those contests. The 32-year-old Pavelski tallied twice in a 3-2 victory over Winnipeg on Monday and had an assist in his previous contest with the Capitals while Thornton picked up his 1,000th assist against the Jets and sealed the win over Washington with an empty-net tally. Melker Karlsson, who played with Pavelski and Thornton on the top line Monday, joined Tomas Hertl and Joonas Donskoi on the third while Logan Couture skated with Patrick Marleau and Mikkel Boedker on the second.
OVERTIME
1. San Jose is 0-for-10 with the man advantage in the last four games and has yielded at least power-play goal in each contest.
2. Washington captain Alex Ovechkin (team-leading 27 goals) has just one assist in his last six games.
3. Sharks D David Schlemko (lower body) is expected to miss his third straight contest after missing practice on Wednesday while the team reassigned rookie F Kevin Labanc to the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League.