Florida Panthers (5-3-1, fourth in the Atlantic Division) vs. San Jose Sharks (3-8-0, seventh in the Pacific Division)
San Jose, California; Thursday, 10:30 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: The San Jose Sharks host the Florida Panthers after Erik Karlsson's hat trick against the Anaheim Ducks in the Sharks' 6-5 shootout loss.
San Jose went 32-37-13 overall and 18-18-5 at home a season ago. The Sharks scored 211 total goals a season ago, averaging 2.6 per game on 29.3 shots per game.
Florida is 5-3-1 overall and 2-4-0 in road games. The Panthers are sixth in the league with 48 total penalties (averaging 5.3 per game).
Thursday's game is the third meeting between these teams this season. The Panthers won the previous matchup 3-2 in overtime.
TOP PERFORMERS: Logan Couture has scored four goals with three assists for the Sharks. Karlsson has nine goals and six assists over the last 10 games.
Matthew Tkachuk has five goals and eight assists for the Panthers. Carter Verhaeghe has scored four goals and added three assists over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Sharks: 3-6-1, averaging 2.6 goals, 4.6 assists, 3.4 penalties and 7.4 penalty minutes while giving up 3.1 goals per game.
Panthers: 5-4-1, averaging three goals, five assists, 5.4 penalties and 11 penalty minutes while giving up 2.8 goals per game.
INJURIES: Sharks: Markus Nutivaara: out (lower body), Nikolai Knyzhov: out (achilles), Nick Bonino: day to day (undisclosed).
Panthers: Anthony Duclair: out (achilles), Aaron Ekblad: out (lower-body).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
