Hurricanes at Sharks
The Carolina Hurricanes aren't much of a road team this season (4-7-6), but are taking the West Coast by storm as they roll into San Jose to meet the Sharks on Saturday night. Carolina, which hasn't posted a winning campaign away from home since 2005-06, began its three-game swing through the Golden State by blowing a late two-goal lead en route to a 6-5 shootout loss in Anaheim on Wednesday before bouncing back with a 3-1 victory in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Carolina owns the NHL's top penalty-killing unit at 92 percent and hasn't allowed a power-play goal in 17 opportunities over the last five games. A big part of that success can be attributed to goaltender Cam Ward (9-7-5, 2.17 goals-against average, .922 save percentage), who is 2-0-2 in his last four starts and 6-1-0, 2.67, .899 in eight games (seven starts) versus San Jose. The Sharks are coming off a 3-2 loss in Anaheim on Friday and are fourth in the Pacific Division, two points behind the first-place Ducks. San Jose continues to struggle offensively, scoring more than two goals once in the last six games while going 3-3-0 during that span.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Carolinas, CSN Bay Area (San Jose)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (11-10-6): Carolina got a lift Thursday from 29-year-old Derek Ryan, who recorded the first multi-goal performance of his 20-game career. Jeff Skinner (team-high 21 points) and Victor Rask share the club lead with nine goals apiece, but each scored only once in the last nine games. Center Elias Lindholm (two goals, seven points, minus-6 rating) missed the last four games because of a lower-body injury.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (15-11-1): One sign of a struggling offense is defenseman Brent Burns leading San Jose with 12 goals after scoring Friday for the fourth time in five games. Joe Pavelski has a club-most 25 points and four in his last three contests after recording an assist Friday. Aaron Dell (2-1-0, 1.93 goals-against average, .931 save percentage) is expected to start instead of No. 1 Martin Jones, who made 29 saves Friday and hasn't played back-to-back games this season.
OVERTIME
1. The Hurricanes clinched their first point-per-game road trip of at least three games since going 2-1-1 from Dec. 8-15, 2015.
2. Sharks D David Schlemko missed his second straight game Friday with an ankle injury but said he's close to returning.
3. Carolina won the last two meetings and seven of the past nine encounters, including four of five in San Jose.