Sharks at Blackhawks preview

SHARKS (0-4-0) at BLACKHAWKS (0-1-0)
8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NBCSCH, NBCSCA, NHL.TV

Marleau signed a one-year contract with the Sharks on Wednesday. He played his first 19 NHL seasons in San Jose prior to signing a three-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 2, 2017. He was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on June 22 and had the final season of his contract bought out June 27.
The Sharks have been outscored 17-5 in losing their first four games of the season, matching their mark to start 1993-94 (0-4-0).
Chicago will play its first game since a 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2019 NHL Global Series at O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic on Oct. 4.

#

Players to watch

Sharks forward Patrick Marleau is their all-time leader in games played (1,493), goals (508) and points (1,082). It will be his first regular-season game with San Jose since April 8, 2017.
Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane had three points (one goal, two assists) in the season opener against the Flyers.

#

They said it

"I try to just go out and play my game and we've got a lot of young guys right now, a lot of guys kind of learning the systems and things like that. I knew it was going to take a little bit of time and it's been getting better each game. We got (Patrick Marleau) back, a little bit more veteran presence there." -- Sharks goalie Aaron Dell
"I think everyone's excited about tonight. It's good to be home. It's good to kind of get in the groove of things. When you have those breaks you almost feel like the season almost didn't start yet. You get one game and then you're kind of resting and waiting. It's nice to have a few games in a row here." -- Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad

#

Sharks projected lineup

Timo Meier -- Logan Couture -- Patrick Marleau
Evander Kane -- Tomas Hertl -- Barclay Goodrow
Lean Bergmann -- Joe Thornton -- Kevin Labanc
Melker Karlsson -- Dylan Gambrell -- Danil Yurtaykin
Marc-Edouard Vlasic -- Brent Burns
Brenden Dillon -- Erik Karlsson
Mario Ferraro -- Trevor Carrick
Aaron Dell
Martin Jones
Scratched: Lukas Radil
Injured: Dalton Prout (upper body), Jake Middleton (undisclosed), Tim Heed (upper body), Radim Simek (knee), Marcus Sorensen (undisclosed)

#

Blackhawks projected lineup

Alex Nylander -- Jonathan Toews -- Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat -- Dylan Strome -- Andrew Shaw
Brandon Saad -- David Kampf -- Dominik Kubalik
Zack Smith -- Ryan Carpenter -- Drake Caggiula
Duncan Keith -- Erik Gustafsson
Olli Maatta -- Brent Seabrook
Slater Koekkoek -- Connor Murphy
Corey Crawford
Robin Lehner
Scratched:Brendan Perlini,
Injured: Calvin de Haan (groin), Kirby Dach (concussion)

#

Status report

De Haan joined the Blackhawks morning skate after missing practice Thursday. … Sharks forward Jonny Brodzinski was assigned to San Jose of the American Hockey League after clearing waivers. … Sorensen skated at United Center following San Jose's morning skate.

#

Stat pack

Marleau will play his 789th consecutive game, the second-longest active streak behind Florida Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle (800) and the sixth-longest all-time. Doug Jarvis played an NHL-record 964 consecutive games. ... Burns is one goal shy of 200 in the NHL. … DeBrincat (three goals, one assist) and Gustafsson (one goal, three assists) tied for the Blackhawks lead with four points each against the Sharks last season.